30 WHITE— A Sketch of the Life of Sanmel White. 



THE BIRDS OF THE ARUS. 

 The birds of the Arus are plentiful in some districts, yet 

 there are places where a collector would fail to find two or 

 three species. Owing to the short duration of my visit, it may 

 be I am not competent to judge of the number of species. I 

 recorded over two hundred species, and saw and heard others. 

 I did not procure all the species to be found in the island, and 

 nearly all the birds are to be found either in Australia or New 

 Guinea, yet there are some species confined to the island and 

 found nowhere else, the chief of which being "the Great Bird of 

 Paradise*' {Paradisea apoda), and called by the natives 

 "Burong Matti." This magnificent creature is not found in 

 any other part of the world other than the country of the Aru 

 group. It measures 18 or 19 inches from the bill to the end of 

 *;he tail, not including the wire feathers, which are 20 inches 

 longer, these long wire-like tail feathers, and the side plumes 

 adorn only the old male birds, the females and young of the 

 first year or so are almost uniform chocolate brown, being a 

 little darker on head and chest. It is stated that the birds 

 must live ten years before they arrive at perfection, and this is 

 not unreasonable when we know some of our birds in Australia 

 require several years to perfect their plumage. I have ob- 

 served that the common '•RosehilT' parrot (P. adelaidensis) 

 when kept in confinement will improve in depth and brightness 

 of plumage for 7 or 8 years, and I am of the opinion that the 

 lovely bird of Paradise may take quite as long or longer to 

 come to maturity. I have been able to procure some good 

 series of this bird. The first year or two of their lives there is 

 little difference between the sexes without it be that the males 

 are a little larger, then a light yellow tinge api)ears on the back 

 of the neck, and the chest is darker brown, then the head be- 

 c(mies mottled with yellow, and a few green feathers appear on 

 the chin, and the two central tail feathers lengthen out, but 

 are mottled on both sides, after this the head becomes bright 

 citron yellow, the chin and the throat are covered with short 

 scaly features of emerald green, and of metallic brightness. 

 Around the base of the bill is a ruff of hair, like feathers, of 

 a deep green, the feathers stand out on end, and look like plush ; 

 the bill is of a light leaden blue, and the eyes have brightened 

 to a deep citron yellow; the tail feathers now lengthen to a 

 foot or eighteen inches, and the web disappears except at the 

 end of an inch or so Avhen they are half an inch broad ; the next 

 stage — the colours all brishten, the eyes become very bright 

 and sharp like a hawks, the chest is deep purple brown, the 



