A taxidermy case with Raggiana’s bird of paradise (Paradiseae raggiana) with trade label to the underside reading ‘The Jungle, Rowland Ward’

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London, c. 1900-1910

 

With a collector’s label, centre bottom reading: No. 153, Bird of Paradise (Paradise Raggiana). The Peter Farrington Collection, Wilmslow Cheshire.
 

H. 69.5 x W. 56 x D. 31 cm
 

The splendid male bird with wings outstretched as if flying, is situated above a faux-tree stump, amidst a natural setting of ferns, grasses and rocks within an ebonised framed glass case resting on bun feet.
The Raggiana bird of paradise is also known as Count Raggi’s bird of paradise and is distributed widely in southern and north-eastern New Guinea where its local name is Kumul and is also known as Cenderawasih. Count Luigi Maria D’Albertis (1841-1901), a rather notorious Italian naturalist and explorer who in 1875 charted
the Fly river in what is now known as Papua New Guinea, requested the epithet “raggiana” to be added to the name of the bird of paradise, to commemorate his friend the marquis Francis Raggi of Genoa. The raggiana is the national bird of Papua New Guinea and in 1971 this species of the genus Paradisaea, was made the national symbol and displayed on the national flag. ‘Kumuls’ (bird-of-paradise in Tok Pisin) is also the nickname of the country’s national rugbyteam