Heads and Necks 267 



some part of the head of a bird, such as the feather "horns " 

 of owls, motmots, and larks. In Screech Owls these 

 prominent "ears" certainly play a useful part in breaking 

 up the outline of the bird, rendering it ver}- difficult of 

 detection when it is perched upon some jagged limb or 

 stub. Or again, tufts or pencils of feathers may arise 

 from near the ear, or over the eye ; as shown by the Dem- 

 oiselle Crane (Fig. 207), some of the Puffins, and the Man- 

 churian Pheasants (Fig. 209) . The Great Bustard has long 

 tufts of chin-feathers which, like wide-spreading whiskers, 

 spread to each side, and the Bearded Vulture has a simi- 

 lar goatee of stiff, black bristles. 



Of the wonderful crests, frills, ruffs, breastplates, and 

 cloaks of hummingbirds there is no room to speak, and 

 indeed no words or pictures can aught but parody them. 

 The eye alone can record their marvels, in the collection 

 of a museum, or, better still, in the living birds, as the 

 little creatures hover over their favourite flowers, or 

 vibrate before us, fanning the air in our very faces with 

 their invisible wings. 



Brief mention should be made of two Birds of Para- 

 dise, those beautiful creatures inhabiting a region where 

 the eye of man seldom sees them. 



The Six-shafted Bird of Paradise is found only in 

 New Guinea. "The plumage appears at first sight black, 

 but it glows in certain lights w4th bronze and deep pur- 

 ple. The throat and breast are scaled with broad, flat 

 feathers of an intense golden hue, changing to green and 

 blue tints and certain lights. On the back of the head 

 is a broad recurved band of feathers, whose brilliancy 



