I30 STORIES ABOUT BIRDS 



have other articles of diet. They will eat insects, and not content with this, 

 will attack small animals, as the birds of prey do ; the merry little squirrel, 

 as he runs among the branches, often falls a victim to the nutcracker. The 

 bird seizes it by the neck, and breaks its skull with his bill. 



THE BIRD OF PARADISE. 



Far away from' England are a number of islands lying in the very heart of the 

 tropical seas. They are to the south of Malacca, and if you look on the map 

 you can easily find them. The largest of them is called New Guinea, and is 

 one of the biggest islands in the world. 



The people who live in it are quite uncivilised, and it is not often that the 

 white man pays them a visit. But a very beautiful bird lives in the deep 

 recesses of the far-off forests of these islands, the most lovely, perhaps, of the 

 whole feathered family. He is called the Bird of Paradise. 



The chiefs of New Guinea, and some of the other islands, used to trade in 

 Birds of Paradise, and sell them to a number of traders who came sometimes 

 to buy and sell. 



The traders were not white men, but came from China or Malacca, or 

 some of the other islands, and held a kind of fair, that lasted for some time ; 

 and they always took away some choice specimens of the Birds of Paradise. 

 Now and then one found its way to Europe. 



We can give you no idea of the bird in the picture by mere description. 

 It is called the Red Bird of Paradise, and his plumes are crimson, tipped with 

 white. The throat is a rich green, and there is a tuft of green feathers on his 

 head ; and there are two long quills, a little like whalebone, that hang down 

 with a curve. 



His home is in a little island close by New Guinea, and every year a 

 number of Birds of Paradise are sent as a tribute to the chiefs of another 

 island. The native goes into the forest with his bow and arrow to shoot them. 

 He lies hidden very snugly in a little hut lie has made, and presently he sees 

 the most wonderful sight you can imagine. 



