| OCR Text |
Show 656 DR. F. H. H. GUILLEMARD ON BIRDS COLLECTED [June 16, from youth to adult age are well exemplified. The young male is at first not to be distinguished from the female, but after a time the first signs of the full plumage become evident in the case of the former, either by the appearance of a few scattered red feathers on the head and neck, or by the gradual reddening of the external surface of the wings. At the same time the median rectrices begin to elongate. At first brown, they soon acquire a red tinge, and, when an inch or two longer than the others, become eroded on the inner web, and somewhat curved, so that the feather is sickle-shaped. This curvature becomes more pronounced, ultimately assuming the shape of the perfect feather, though the colour of the web still remains brown. The shaft then becomes completely denuded of feather, and the terminal disk acquires the brilliant metallic green colouring of the perfect plume. This development has gone on contemporaneously with the change in the general plumage. The whole of the back and upper surface having become more or less red in patches, the colour being assumed gradually by each feather, and not by moult, each feather becoming at first yellowish, then red,-a change is seen in the under surface, the feathers of the abdomen turning gradually white, while simultaneously signs of the metallic green pectoral band appear. Simultaneously also, the subalar plumes commence to grow, a process which in the genus Paradisea is the final stage towards the completion of the full plumage. They are at first ruddy, barred with greyish brown, while the tips, which are destined later to become metallic green, are buff. The final change consists in the assumption of the colour in the tips. It is impossible to examine a large series of C. regius, such as the above, without noticing certain differences with regard to locality, which, though slight, appear to be tolerably constant. Taking the Mysol examples, which seem to be possessed of no marked characteristics, as a standard, the birds from Aru, Jobi, and the Arfak region present the most noteworthy peculiarities. They may be shortly summarized as follows :- Aru. Birds large ; very yellow on the head ; supraocular spot large; tails long; disks small. Tendency to a bronze tint on the metallic green. Jobi. Beak shorter, the apex projecting but a short distance beyond the nasal tufts. Supraocular spot small. Violet tinge of throat strongly marked. Arfak. Birds small. Tail very short; disks large. A female from Jobi island is characterized by being of a dark mouse-brown on the back and head. Although we never obtained C. regius in Batanta, T on one occasion doubtfully, and on another certainly, saw it at the southeast end of that island. But for this, I should have had great doubts of its existence in that locality. |
