76 BEAUTIFUL, BIRDS 
Superb or Black Bird of Paradise—after his mar- 
vellous black plumage, that has all sorts of colours 
lying asleep in it—are two wonderful ornaments 
that he has, one on his head and one on his breast. 
The one on his head is the most wonderful. It is 
a sort of crest—at least I think that is the best 
name for it. Some people, I know, call it a shield, 
but then that is what they call the other wonderful 
thing on the breast too; so, if they call that a shield, 
I think they should call this a helmet, for it is a 
helmet, and not a shield, that soldiers wear on the 
head. J shall call it a crest, but it is one of the 
most extraordinary crests that any bird ever had. 
It is like a pair of black velvet lappets, so long 
that they go all down the back and reach half-an- 
inch beyond the tips of the wings. But at the back 
of the head, where this crest begins, the two lappets 
meet, and they are joined together for a little way 
before they begin to go apart. I tell you what 
will give you an idea of the shape of this crest. 
Have you ever seen a pair of trousers that have 
been washed, and are hanging out on a clothes-line 
to dry, with the legs very wide apart, so wide they 
look as if they had been stretched ?—I don’t know 
if they really have. Of course you have seen such 
a thing. Well, that will give you an idea—mind, 
that is a// I can say—of what this wonderful crest 
