rae TWO” PEUNNY. FEATHERS” 59 
make almost anything she tries to, out of any kind 
of material. 
Now, I must tell you that the Great Bird of 
Paradise has two funny feathers like this in /zs tail 
too—feathers, I mean, without webs to them—only 
his ones have just a little web at the beginning and, 
again, at the very tips; all the part in between has 
none at all. These funny feathers of the Great Bird 
of Paradise are even longer than those of the red one, 
for they are from twenty-four to thirty-four inches 
long, and thirty-four inches, you know, is almost 
three feet. But then they are thin, not broad like 
ribbons, and the plumes of the Great Bird of Paradise 
are so long that they are a good deal hidden by them, 
and, sometimes, hardly noticed amongst such a lot of 
finery. I think that must be why, when I was describ- 
ing the Great Bird of Paradise to you, I forgot all about 
them, which, of course, I ought not to have done. But 
we all of us make mistakes sometimes, people who 
write books just as much as people who only read 
them, although, of course, people who write books 
ought to be more careful. 
In fact, a great many of the Birds of Paradise have 
these funny feathers, and some of them have more 
than two. If you look for page 77 you will see a 
picture of the King Bird of Paradise, who has two 
beauties. He is not one of the birds that I talk 
