THE KINGBIRD OF PARADISE. 



^ 



HE sublime is no nearer the 

 ridiculous in literature than in 

 the things of nature. An 

 instance of this is the close 

 relation of the common Crow to the 

 most glorious bird of them all. Not 

 only are they very much alike in 

 general form, including shape of feet, 

 bill, bones, and ordinary feathering, but 

 also in habit. They seem to delight in 

 the same sorts of food and secure it in 

 much the same manner. When they 

 are happiest and attempt to pour forth 

 their songs of joy the voice of the Crow 

 is fully as melodious and satisfactory 

 to the human ear as is that of the Bird 

 of Paradise. 



The old fable in regard to their 

 having no feet and living only on the 

 dews of heaven and the delicacies 

 which they were supposed to be able 

 to collect from the atmosphere as they 

 floated perpetually free from the earth 

 and its contaminations was so grateful 

 to Europeans that when Antony Piga- 

 fetta, who accompanied Magellan 

 around the world and secured a great 

 deal of information at first hand, 

 described them as birds with very 

 ordinary, in fact, almost ugly, feet and 

 legs, he was not believed, and Aldro- 

 vandus publicly brought accusations 

 against him for audacious falsehood. 



While the males have not only a 

 splendid growth of delicate floating 

 feathers of very unusual length 

 and glossy fineness of texture, the 

 females have but little more to boast 

 of than our American Crow, and they 

 even lack the degree of lustre which 

 our black friend frequently exhibits. 

 But the males are adorned with a 

 wealth of color display, rich in velvety 

 softness and blazing with metallic 

 lustre. This lustre cannot be appre- 

 ciated from the appearance of the faded 

 specimens so often seen in the museums 

 which ma}' have suffered, not alone 

 from dust and exposure for years to the 



chemical action of light but have also 

 been sadly diminished in glory by the 

 rude arts of the natives who fumigate 

 the skins with burning sulphur, their 

 principal care seeming to be to get 

 enough of it deposited to make sure of 

 the skins' not being attacked by insects. 



To be seen to best advantage one 

 needs to watch them as they make their 

 short migrations in flocks from one 

 island to another with the change of 

 the seasons from the dry to the wet 

 monsoon. They prefer traveling against 

 the wind rather than with it because 

 their plumage is so elaborate and deli- 

 cate in its structure that an attempt to 

 fly with the wind frequently brings 

 disaster to the glorious males and 

 causes them to tumble ignominiously 

 to the ground, after which they are a 

 long time in arranging affairs for 

 another attempt at navigation of the 

 air. 



The King Bird of Paradise is a small 

 bird, measuring but little over six inches 

 in length. It is extremely vivacious, 

 flying about and running with but 

 little show of the dignity of its family. 

 Very fond of fruits, it is not satisfied 

 with attacking those which other birds 

 of its size would choose, but enjoys 

 showing its gormandizing powers by 

 devouring as much as possible of the 

 largest specimens within its reach. 



The fan-shaped tuft of feathers which 

 adorns each side of the bird are subject 

 to his will, being raised and .spread out 

 or lowered as the weather or the feel- 

 ings of the bird seem to demand. At 

 the ends of the long feather shafts 

 springing from its tail are markings 

 which strongly resemble the eye-like 

 ornaments of the Peacock. The shafts 

 seem not content with stretching them- 

 selves out to a greater length than that 

 of the bird itself, but at the extremities 

 they curve inward coiling compactly 

 into spiral discs flashing with emerald 

 green. 



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