BIRD S- OF-PARADISE. 5 5 7 



had one at 3Iacao, China, that had been in captivity nine years ; sev- 

 eral have been kept at Amboyna, but very few have ever been carried 

 to Europe, although specimens of the skins and prepared birds were 

 taken there more than 300 years ago. Anthony Pigafetta, one of the 

 companions of Magellan, first imported them into Europe in 1522. 



In form and size they somewhat resemble our crow, or blue-jay ; 

 but some are smaller. They are usually included in the tribe of cone- 

 bills, though their bills are quite slender for that group, and a little 

 compressed. The bills are covered at the base with downy or vel- 

 vety feathers, which extend over the nostrils : their wings are long 

 and round ; the tail consists of ten feathers, two of them, in some spe- 

 cies, very long ; legs and feet very long, large, and strong ; outer toe 

 longer than inner, and joined to the middle one toward the base ; hind- 

 toe very long; claws long and curved. But they are chiefly re- 

 markable for the wonderful development of various parts of their plu- 

 mage, and for the metallic splendor of its rich hues. The sides of the 

 body, and sometimes of the head, neck, breast, or tail, are ornamented 

 with lengthened, peculiarly developed, and showy feathers. Says 

 Wood : "In all the species, the feathers glow with resplendent radi- 

 ance ; in nearly all there is some strange and altogether unique ar- 

 rangement of the plumage ; and, in many, the feathers are modified 

 into plumes, ribbons, and streamers, that produce the most surprising 

 and lovely effects." The plumage of the face, breast, and throat, is 

 usually the richest in metallic tints, while other parts frequently have 

 very beautiful and brilliant colors. 



Their food consists of grasshoppers, butterflies, moths, and other 

 insects ; figs, the berries of various trees and shrubs ; seeds, rice, and 

 other kinds of grain. During the heat of the day they remain con- 

 cealed in the woods, but, in the morning and evening, come forth to 

 seek their food. Furious storms frequently bring them to the ground, 

 when they are easily taken by the natives, who also shoot them with 

 blunt arrows, or take them with a noose, likewise with bird-lime, or 

 other glutinous substance, placed on the branches which they frequent. 

 They sometimes stupefy them with cocculus indicus. Europeans shoot 

 them with shot-guns. The natives formerly skinned the birds, cut off 

 the legs and wings, and dried the skin on a stick. Later they took out 

 the interior organs of the bird, cut off the legs, and smoked the birds 

 with sulphur, or seared them inside with a hot iron ; and, after being 

 thoroughly dried, they put them in the hollow of a bamboo, to secure 

 the plumage from injury. They are used by the natives, the Japan- 

 ese, Chinese, East Indians, and Persians, for adorning the turbans of 

 the men, the head-dresses of the women, and for various other pur- 

 poses of ornament. The Chinese make imitations of these birds from 

 the feathers of parrots and paroquets, to sell to strangers. The feath- 

 ers were formerly, and are still, used very much as ostrich-feathers are. 

 By their lightness and lustre, they are extremely well suited for the 



