THE RED BIRD OF PARADISE, 



313 



ALTHOUGH undistinguished by the wonderful floating plumes which form so conspicuous 

 a decoration of the preceding species, and not being equal to it in dimensions, the SUPERB 

 BIRD OF PARADISE is by no means the least curious of this group. 



In this bird, the scapulary feathers are greatly developed, being elongated and widened so 

 as to form a very large double plume or crest, which lies along the back and sides when the 

 bird is at rest, but can be raised at will, and then overtops the head on each side like the 

 Queen of Scots' collar. As if to balance this shoulder-crest, another curious tuft of feathers 

 hangs from the breast, spreading into a doubly pointed form, the extremities being directed 

 downwards. The general color of the plumage is the deepest imaginable violet "shot" with 

 green, appearing of a velvety blackness from its very intensity, and only flashing forth in the 

 brighter hues as the light falls upon the edge of each feather. The breast tuft, however, forms 

 an exception to this rule, being of the most brilliant steely-green, glittering with gem-like 

 radiance in the sunbeams. Although it is not a very large bird, measuring only nine inches in 

 total length, it is really not so very inferior in size to the emerald Paradise Bird, as its tail is 

 short and its plumage closely set. t 



THE last species of these birds which will be mentioned in these pages is the RED BIRD OF 

 PARADISE. 



Although not possessed of such dazzling and refulgent plumage as characterizes several of 

 its kin, it is yet a most beautiful bird, and both for the soft, delicate purity of the tints with 



RED BIRD OF PARADISE. Paradlsea rubra. 



which it is adorned, and the harmony of their arrangement, may challenge competition with 

 any of the feathered race. In size it is about equal to a small pigeon. The forehead and chin 

 are clothed with velvet-like feathers of the intensest green, so arranged as to form a kind of 

 double crest on the forehead, and a sharply defined gorget on the throat. The head, back, 

 and shoulders, together with a band round the neck immediately below the green gorget, are 

 rich orange-yellow, golden in the centre and tinged with carmine on the margins. The wings, 

 chest, and abdomen are a deep, warm chocolate-brown, and the tail is somewhat of the same 

 tint, but not quite dark. Over the tail falls a long, double tuft of loose plumy feathers of a 

 beautiful carmine, and two long black filamentous armendages also hang from the tail, and 

 extend to a considerable length. 



VOL. II. JO. i 



