WHITE — A Sketch of the Life of Samuel Whit'-. 



central tail feathers have grown to 24 inches or more, and 

 are destitute of web witli the exception of a little at the base; 

 the bird is now perfect with tlie exception of tlie plumes, scarce- 

 ly a sign of which can yet be seen. The plumes appear a few 

 inches at first, and are of a brownish yellow colour, increasing 

 in length, volume and brightness every year. When half grown 

 they are pale yellow, but when full grown they are 

 about 24 inches long and of the most intense orange 

 yellow at the base, with a finer gloss than silk lustre and depth 

 of colour gradually dying away towards the tip into a soft 

 brown. These birds must be seen alive or freshly killed to realize 

 their full beauty ; in life they are most beautiful birds, and have 

 made the heart of the Naturalist beat and bound when he had 

 one of these glorious birds within his grasp for the first time. 

 When the great Bird of Paradise is adult or nearly so, he ranks 

 amongst the shyest birds in the world, he resorts to the highest 

 trees in the scrub, and the cracking of the smallest stick under 

 one's foot, or the sight of any moving object is sufficient to send 

 him off. The easiest and best way to obtain these birds is to take 

 advantage of. some of its habits; one peculiar to the family is 

 to rej)air in the forenoon to certain large trees, when they pro- 

 duce their loud call of "Cark" or "Wark" repeated several 

 times, and with the old birds the voice is much more deep and 

 sonorous than the females and young males. On the large 

 horizontal branches of the large trees, the male birds dance 

 and display their plumes, and it is now that the Naturalist can 

 procure his specimens. ' I have called these birds into a tree 

 under which I was standing by mimicking their voices; they 

 have several calls besides the loud call "Wark" one a Ioav soft 

 note when feeding, and when caught or wounded give a call 

 much like a domestic fowl when being caught. The natives 

 ascend their dancing trees and conceal themselves in the lower 

 branches to get at shorter range and shoot them with blunt or 

 often pointed arrows. Just before evening a man brought me 

 a fine bird, but with not much j)Iume. It had been hit with a 

 blunt arrow on the tij) of the wing, which was dislocated. The 

 man who had brought it told me he had a dead bird for me 

 (Rurrong Matti), all my senses told nic this was not the case, 

 for the bird was fighting, struggling, and squeaking vigorously, 

 vet the fellow persisted in it being a <lead l»ird. but are we not 

 just as nbsnrd. for the Naturalist has named it the legless bird 

 of Paradise, which is not the case, for it possesses exceedingly 

 strong and well developed legs and feet, quite as strong if not 

 more so than our common crow, which fit it for a vai-ietv of 



