466 The Aku Islands. 



ly rare and beautiful insect ; but there was nothing for it but 

 patience, and to return quietly to my bird-skinning, or what- 

 ever other work I had in-doors. The stings and bites and 

 ceaseless irritation caused by these pests of the tropical forests 

 would be borne uncomplainingly ; but to be kept prisoner by 

 them in so rich and unexplored a country, where rare and 

 beautiful creatures are to be met with in every forest ramble 

 — a country reached by such a long and tedious voyage, and 

 which might not in the present centuiy be again visited for 

 the same purjDOse — is a punishment too severe for a naturalist 

 to pass over in silence. 



I had, however, some consolation in the birds my boys 

 brought home daily, more especially the Paradiseas, which they 

 at length obtained in full plumage. It was quite a relief to 

 my mind to get these, for I could hardly have torn myself 

 away from Aru had I not obtained specimens. But what I 

 valued almost as much as the birds themselves was the knowl- 

 edge of their habits, which I was daily obtaining both from 

 the accounts of my hunters, and from the conversation of the 

 natives. The bii'ds had now commenced what the people here 

 call their " sacaleli," or dancing-parties, in certain trees in the 

 forest, which are not fruit-trees, as I at first imagmed, but 

 which have an immense head of spreading branches and large 

 but scattered leaves, giving a clear space for the birds to play 

 and exhibit their plumes. On one of these trees a dozen or 

 twenty full-plumaged male birds assemble together, 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 va- 

 riety of attitude and motion. (See Frontispiece.) The bird 

 itself is nearly as large as a crow, and is of a rich coffee-brown 

 color. The head and neck is of a pure straw yellow above, 

 and rich metallic green beneath. The long plumy tufts of 

 golden-orange feathers spring from the sides beneath each 

 wing, and when the bird is in repose are partly concealed by 

 them. At the time of its excitement, however, the wings are 

 raised vertically over the back, the head is bent down and 

 stretched out, and the long plumes are raised up and expand- 

 ed till they form two magnificent golden fans, striped with 



