these is a true kangaroo, very similar to some of middle-sized kangaroos of
Australia, and it is remarkable as being the first animal of the kind ever seen by
Europeans. It inhabits Mysol and the Aru Islands (an allied species being found
in New Guinea), and was seen and described by Le Brun in 1714, from living
specimens at Batavia. A much more extraordinary creature is the tree-kangaroo,
two species of which are known from New Guinea. These animals do not differ
very strikingly in form from the terrestrial kangaroos, and appear to be but
imperfectly adapted to an arboreal life, as they move rather slowly, and do not
seem to have a very secure footing on the limb of a tree. The leaping power of
the muscular tail is lost, and powerful claws have been acquired to assist in
climbing, but in other respects the animal seems better adapted to walls on terra
firma. This imperfect adaptation may be due to the fact of there being no
carnivore in New Guinea, and no enemies of any kind from which these animals
have to escape by rapid climbing. Four species of Cuscus, and the small flying
opossum, also inhabit New Guinea; and there are five other smaller marsupials,
one of which is the size of a rat, and takes its place by entering houses and
devouring provisions.
The birds of New Guinea offer the greatest possible contrast to the Mammalia,
since they are more numerous, more beautiful, and afford more new, curious,
and elegant forms than those of any other island on the globe. Besides the Birds
of Paradise, which we have already sufficiently considered, it possesses a
number of other curious birds, which in the eyes of the ornithologist almost
serves to distinguish it as one of the primary divisions of the earth. Among its
thirty species of parrots are the Great Pluck Cockatoo, and the little rigid-tailed
Nasiterna, the giant and the dwarf of the whole tribe. The bare-headed
Dasyptilus is one of the most singular parrots known; while the beautiful little
long-tailed Charmosyna, and the great variety of gorgeously-coloured lories,
have no parallels elsewhere. Of pigeons it possesses about forty distinct species,
among which are the magnificent crowned pigeons, now so well known in our
aviaries, and pre-eminent both for size and beauty; the curious Trugon terrestris,
which approaches the still more strange Didunculus of Samoa; and a new genus
(Henicophaps), discovered by myself, which possesses a very long and powerful
bill, quite unlike that of any other pigeon. Among its sixteen kingfishers, it
possesses the carious hook-billed Macrorhina, and a red and blue Tanysiptera,
the most beautiful of that beautiful genus. Among its perching birds are the fine
genus of crow-like starlings, with brilliant plumage (Manucodia); the carious
pale-coloured crow (Gymnocorvus senex); the abnormal red and black
flycatcher (Peltops blainvillii); the curious little boat-billed flycatchers