This is the first illustration in the article “A New Bird of Paradise” by the Hon. Walter Rothschild, published in the June 1895 issue of Novitates zoologicae : a journal of zoology in connection with the Tring Museum. The description is no-nonsense, yet vivid:
Head, sides of the head, occiput, and hind-neck brilliant metallic golden green, the feathers of the occiput bright blue, narrowly edged with the golden green. Back shining velvety purple ; rump and upper tail-coverts, sooty black. Chin and throat bluish green with an oily gloss. Between the throat and
ear-coverts is a narrow line of fiery crimson, running down into the crimson patch on the upper breast. Feathers of the lower neck greenish purple, edged with crimson in a certain light, and followed by a broad semicircular patch of deep fiery crimson.
…and so on.
It’s better known as the splendid astrapia, a New Guinea bird known for flashy feathers and flashier courtship rituals, involving hopping from branch to branch and croaking like a frog. The males will sometimes do this in large groups, or “leks.”
You know. Leks parties. For birds.