THE BIRDS OF PARADISE. 



QJ 



4 



HE far-distant islands of the 

 ■ Malayan Archipelago, situated 

 in the South Pacific Ocean, 

 ■ the country of the bird- 

 winged butterflies, princes of their 

 tribe, the " Orang Utan," or great 

 man-like ape, and peopled by Papuans 

 and Malays — islands whose shores are 

 bathed perpetually by a warm sea, and 

 whose surfaces are covered with a most 

 luxuriant tropical vegetation — these 

 are the home of a group of birds that 

 rank as the radiant gems of the 

 feathered race. None can excel the 

 nuptial dress of the males, either in 

 the vividness of their changeable and 

 rich plumage or the many strangely 

 modified and developed ornaments of 

 feather which adorn them. 



The history of these birds is very 

 interesting. Before the year 1598 the 

 Malay traders called them " Manuk 

 dewata," or God's birds, while the 

 Portuguese, finding' they had no wings 

 or feet, called them Passaros de sol, or 

 birds of the sun. 



When the earliest European voyagers 

 reached the Moluccas in search of 

 cloves and nutmegs, which were then 

 rare and precious spices, they were 

 presented with dried skins of Birds so 

 strange and beautiful as to excite the 

 admiration even of these wealth-seek- 

 ing rovers. John Van Linschoten in 

 1598 calls them "Avis Paradiseus, or 

 Paradise birds," which name has been 

 applied to them down to the present 

 day. Van Linschoten tells us " that 

 no one has seen these birds alive, for 

 they live in the air, always turning 

 towards the sun, and never alighting 

 on the earth till they die." More than 

 a hundred years later, Funnel, who 

 accompanied Dampier and wrote of the 

 voyage, saw specimens at Amboyna, 

 and was told that they came to Banda 

 to eat nutmegs, which intoxicated 

 them and made them fall down sense- 

 less, when they were killed by ants. 



In 1760 Linnaeus named the largest 

 species Paradisea apoda (the footless 

 Paradise bird). At that time no per- 

 fect specimen had been seen in Europe, 

 and it was many years afterward when 

 it was discovered that the feet had been 

 cut off and buried at the foot of the tree 

 from which they were killed by the 

 superstitious natives as a propitiation to 

 the gods. Wallace, who was the first 

 scientific observer, writer, and collector 

 of these birds, and who spent eight 

 years on the islands studying their 

 natural history, speaks of the males of 

 the great Birds of Paradise assembling 

 together to dance on huge trees in the 

 forest, which have wide-spreading 

 branches and large but scattered 

 leaves, giving a clear space for the 

 birds to play and exhibit their plumes. 

 From twelve to twenty individuals 

 make up one of these parties. They 

 raise up their wings, stretch out their 

 necks and elevate their exquisite 

 plumes, keeping them in a continual 

 vibration. Between whiles they fly 

 across from branch to branch in great 

 excitement, so that the whole tree is 

 filled with waving plumes in every 

 variety of attitude and motion. The 

 natives take advantage of this habit 

 and climb up and build a blind or 

 hiding place in a tree that has been 

 frequented by the birds for dancing. In 

 the top of this blind is a small open- 

 ing, and before day-light, a native 

 with his bow and arrow, conceals him- 

 self, and when the birds assemble he 

 deftly shoots them with his blunt- 

 pointed arrows. 



The great demand for the plumage 

 of Birds of Paradise for decorative 

 purposes is causing their destruction at 

 a rapid rate, and this caprice of a pass- 

 ing fashion will soon place one of 

 the most beautiful denizens of our 

 earth in the same category as the 

 great Auk and Dodo. — Cincinnati Com- 

 mercial- Gazette. 



140 



