310 THE KING BIRD OF PARADISE. 



BIRDS OF PARADISE. 



THE supremely glorious members of the feathered tribe which have by common consent 

 been termed BIRDS OF PABADISE are not very numerous in species, but are so different in 

 form and color, according to the sex and age, that they have been considered far more numer- 

 ous than is really the case. The plumage of these birds is wonderfully rich and varied, and 

 not even the humming-birds themselves present such an inexhaustible treasury of form and 

 color as is found among the comparatively few species of the Birds of Paradise. In all, the 

 feathers glow with resplendent radiance, in nearly all there is some strange and altogether 

 unique arrangement of the plumage, and in many the feathers are modified into plumes, 

 ribbons, and streamers, that produce the most surprising and lovely effects. 



Various strange tales were told of these birds by the ancient writers. The Paradise Bird 

 was thought to have no legs or feet, or use for them, but to pass its time floating in the air, 

 and only taking a little occasional rest by suspending itself from the branches of a tree by the 

 feathers of its tail. The obvious difficulty of hatching the eggs was accounted for by saying 

 that they were laid in the hollow formed by the plumage of the male, and that the mother 

 bird sat upon them while resting upon the back of her husband, both birds floating luxuriously 

 in the breeze, and feeding on the soft dews of heaven. This fable found its origin in the fact 

 that the natives of the country where the Paradise Bird resides, always cut off its legs before 

 preserving the skin, so that all the specimens which reached Europe were legless. The plan 

 of preservation adopted was simple in the extreme. The interior organs of the bird were 

 removed, the legs cut off, a hot iron thrust into the body, and the bird dried over a fire with- 

 out any further care. 



The food and habits of these birds seem to be very similar, although the plumage is so 

 distinct. I shall, therefore, give a detailed account of one species, and merely present the 

 reader with good figures and short descriptions of the others. These birds had formerly been 

 broken up into many genera, but are now very rightly shown to be members of the same 

 genus. 



THE first species on our list is the MANTJCODE, or KING BIRD OF PARADISE, so called 

 because it was thought to exercise a regal sway over the other species, and to hold itself 

 aloof from them like a proud and imperious monarch. 



It is a very little bird, the body being scarcely larger than that of a common sparrow, and 

 is remarkable for the very eccentric way in which its plumage is arranged, as will be seen 

 from an examination of the engraving. The natives of the country which it inhabits say that 

 it lives in flocks of thirty or forty in number, under the guidance of one bird which is termed 

 the king, and w^hich is known by the eyes at the extremity of the long tail-feathers. They 

 further relate that the whole troop perches together on the branches of a tree, and that if the 

 king can only be shot, the whole of his subjects remain around his dead body, and can be slain 

 without difficulty. 



Le Vaillant, in treating of this subject, remarks that the King Bird of Paradise very often 

 gets among a flock of another species, and would therefore hold, and be held, rather aloof 

 from them. Moreover, this species is solitary, and is by no means fond of tall trees, prefer- 

 ring to flit among the low bushes in search of the berries and other food on which it subsists. 

 The natives of New Guinea are in the habit of capturing the King Bird of Paradise by means 

 of a kind of bird-lime, which they make from one of their native plants, and which they lay 

 along the branches which the bird is known to frequent. During the greater part of the year 

 this species remains in New Guinea, but during the western monsoon it migrates to the Aroo 

 Islands, returning as soon as the rainy season sets in. 



Lesson, who had the opportunity of a few days' visit to New Guinea, and who, like an 

 enthusiastic naturalist, certainly made the very best use of his limited time, makes the follow- 

 ing remarks upon this bird : ' ' The Mauucode presented itself twice in our shooting excur- 



