BIEDS OF PAEADISE. 



499 



but more fi-equently are to be met in large flocks, altering their 

 residence with the change of the monsoon. 



Their flight is very swift, and has been frequently compared by 

 Europeans resident in the East to that of a Swallow ; in con- 

 sequence, they have bestowed on the Bird of Paradise the name 

 of Swallow of Tern ate. 



It is owing to the long lateral plumes, which they most perfectly 



Fig. 212. — The Great Emerald [Paradisea opoda, Linn.). 



control in the air, that they are so buoyant ; at the same time, this 

 unusual amount of plumage almost entirely stops their 2:>rogTes- 

 sion against a head wind. 



When the Bird of Paradise was first spoken of in Europe few 

 believed that it existed. Nor is this to be M'ondered at, when 

 we remember that it was affirmed that these gorgeous birds were 

 without legs, and hung on to the branches of trees by their 

 long aerial plumes ; that the female deposited her eggs under the 



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