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Show 1895.] ON THE MOULTING OF THE GREAT BIRD OF PARADISE. 541 2. On the Moulting of the Great Bird of Paradise, with brief Notes upon its Habits in Captivity. By R A M B R A M HA S A N Y A L , C.M.Z.S. [Received May 27, 1895.] In his remarks on the moulting of the Great Bird of Paradise (Paradisea apoda), recorded in the P. Z. S. of April 1887 (p. 392), Mr. Bartlett questions the statement of Dr. Guillemard, made upon the authority of the inhabitants of the Aru Islands, that the Great Bird of Paradise " does not wear its adult plumage all the year, and that its beautiful plumes remain developed for not longer than two or three months." I have had opportunities of observing the habits of two adult males of the Great Bird of Paradise for a sufficient length of time to justify me in stating that, although it is difficult to make the phenomenon fit in with our previous notion of the law of moulting in birds, it is nevertheless the fact that my observations regarding the moulting of this bird, extending over a period of four years, go to show that there is some truth in Dr. Guillemard's statement. In January 1891, the Zoological Garden, Calcutta, was fortunate in having presented to it a male Paradisea apoda, from the Aru Islands. It was then in perfect adult plumage. By the middle of February following I noticed that the bird was every now and then pecking at the feathers of its lower back, which was much dishevelled. Suspecting something wrong, I consulted Mr. William Rutledge, an experienced dealer in live stock at Calcutta, who had owned the bird for about two years previous to its acquisition by the Garden. He assured me that there was nothing wrong, but that the bird was beginning to moult. It went on throwing off its feathers slowly at first, but rapidly as the period of moult advanced, so that by the middle of May it had cast off all its beautiful side-plumes and tail-feathers, except the two central wire-like ones, which fell off later on. The short, close, velvety feathers of the head, neck, and throat were the last to fall off by the end of July, and the first to reappear a few days later. The bird did not, however, assume its perfect plumage until about the middle of October. With slight variations as to time, it has, every year since its arrival in 1891, been observed to remain more or less in undress, as it were, during the unusually prolonged period of moulting. During the current year it began throwing off its feathers early in February, and now (May 7th) not one of the long beautiful plumes is left. The two long wire-like central tail-feathers have not fallen, but are broken off at the middle. In January 1892, another male bird of the same species, but said to have been from the southern part of New Guinea (and possibly, therefore, referable to P. papuensis), was acquired by purchase. It was slightly smaller and a little brighter in colour than the Aru-Island bird. During the two years that it remained alive its moulting-habits were carefully observed and found to vary |
