New Bird Of Paradise
p. 32 · Read in the full issue
SCIENTIFIC circles in Australia have been stirred by the announcement of the discovery in New Guinea of a new genus and species of Bird of Para dise. Details are given in the latest issue of the “Australian Zoologist”.
Three specimens of this new bird were collected by Messrs. J. L. Taylor and J.
R. Black, leaders of the Hagen-Sepik patrol, and they were sent to the Aus tralian Museum, Sydney, by the Admin istrator of New Guinea, Sir Walter Mc- Nicoll. It has been given a formidable scientific name, “Taeniaparadisea Mac nicolli”; which means, literally, “Mc- NicoU’s Ribbon-Tailed Bird of Para dise”.
Mr. J. L. Taylor reports that the birds were obtained in the highlands of Cen tral New Guinea, in the Hagen-Sepik district, between 8,000 and 10,000 ft. above sea level. He says there are not
many of them, but one meets them here and there in the high forests. They make a clicking or hammering sound, something like a pneumatic rivetter at work and they appear to have some dif ficulty in flying—their long tails being an encumbrance.
There are many different kinds of Birds of Paradise recorded, but this par ticular bird in certain respects is quite new.
Mr. A. Coomber, of the Australasian Petroleum Company at Wewak, North ern New Guinea, returned to the Terri tory at the end of November, after a visit to Australia.
Mr. E. T. Pleasants, head of the legal firm of Klinkmuller and Pleasants, Apia, arrived in New Zealand from Western Samoa late in November to join the N.Z. Volunteer Force. He was accom panied by Mrs. Pleasants.