THE INCOMPARABLE BIRD OF PARADISE. 



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INCOMPARABLE BIRD OF 

 PARADISE. Astrapia niffra. 



sions, and we killed the male and the female. This species would seem to be monogamous, or 



perhaps it is only separated into pairs at the period of laying. In the woods this bird has no 



brilliancy ; its fine-colored 



plumage is not discovered, 



and the tints of the female 



are dull. It loves to take its 



station on the teak-trees, 



whose ample foliage shelters 



it, and whose small fruit 



forms its nourishment. Its 



irides are brown, and the feet 



are of a delicate azure. The 



Papuans call it Saya." 



The King Bird of Para- 

 dise is as beautiful as it is 

 rare. The whole upper parts 

 of the body are rich chestnut 

 with a wash of purple, and 

 the under portions of the body 

 are pure white. Across the 

 chest is drawn a band of light 

 golden-green, and from the 

 sides and below the shoulders 

 spring a series of feathers, 



disposed so as to form a plume, their color being 

 dusky-brown tipped with vivid green. From the 

 upper tail-coverts spring the very long and very 

 slender shafts, which are bare, excepting at their 

 extremities, when they suddenly expand into a light 

 emerald-green web, which is curled as if it had been 

 just coiled into a spiral form and then flattened. 

 The green web only belongs to one side of the shaft. 



ANOTHER species of these wonderful birds is 

 well represented in the accompanying illustration. 

 This is the INCOMPARABLE BIRD OF PARADISE, also 

 an inhabitant of New Guinea. 



This bird is remarkable not only for the glorious 

 iridescent splendor of its robes, but for the extraor- 

 dinary development of its tail and the velvety crest 

 on its head, which would render it a truly bea,utiful 

 bird even were the plumage a sober black or brown. 

 Indeed, on first seeing one of these birds, it is diffi- 

 cult to believe that it is not altogether a "made-up " 

 specimen, composed, like the many mermaids now 

 in existence, of portions taken from different species 

 and ingeniously put together. We are accustomed 

 by our knowledge of the peacock to see a bird with 

 a disproportionately long train, but in this case the 



true tail-feathers are developed both in length and width to such an extent that they hardly 

 seem to have started from the little body to which they belong. 



The true position of this species has been much doubted by naturalists, some having con- 

 sidered it to be analagous to the thrushes, and having accordingly placed it near those birds, 

 while others have ranked it among the Paradise Birds, but have made it into a fresh genus. 



