THE BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA. 



295 



Fam i \y — Paradiseidce. 

 Genus — 



1. Paradisea. 



2. Ptilorhis. 



3. Seleucides. 



P. minor. 

 P. rubra. 

 P paradisea. 

 S. nis^ricans. 



4, Matmcodiii. M. cJialyheia. 



Lesser Bird of Paradise. 

 Red Bird of Paradise. 

 Rifle Bird. 

 Twelve-wired Bird of 



Paradise. 

 Green ]\Ianucode. 



Some of the above-named species, which do not nearly 

 exhaust the list of the beautiful birds of paradise, have 

 lived for a considerable time in the parrot house in the 

 Zoological Society's Gardens in Regent's Park, London, 

 where they were fed as stated for the starling. 



Common, or Emerald Bird of Paradise. — Perhaps 

 the best known of these magnificent creatures. It is as 

 large as a jay, and of a delicate chocolate brown colour, 

 but the face and throat are rich metallic green ; the scapular 

 feathers are long and filamentous, and the bird has the 

 power of spreading them out round its body in a kind of 

 cloud. These beautiful plumes are cream colour. 



The female is devoid of this exuberance of feathering, 

 and might be called plain-looking, but for the golden green 

 and yellow of the head and neck which she wears in 

 common with her partner. 



Red Bird of Paradise. — About the size of a thrush, 

 also possesses a great quantity of sub -alar feathering 

 that quite conceals the tail, from among the quills of which 

 project two long filamentous feathers that are more than 

 twice the length of the bird itself. These are black, but 

 the rest of the long feathers are red. 



Golden Bird of Paradise. — Another splendid creature, 

 with a plumage of velvety black, changing into metallic 

 green of the most brilliant tint. The throat is emerald 



