XV. 



THE BIRD OF MYSTERY. 



It is well that Nature has so carefully guarded 

 the lives of her most beautiful birds, for it is 

 a sad fact that, in the words of an eminent 

 writer, "the winged order — the loftiest, the 

 tenderest, the most sympathetic with man — is 

 that which man nowadays pursues most cruelly." 

 Had they been as accessible as sparrows, even 

 although they equaled them in numbers, not 

 one would by this time be alive on earth.. 



The family whose extraordinary dress and 

 mystery of origin justify its name — Birds of 

 Paradise — is securely hidden in distant islands 

 not friendly to bird-hunting races. Inacces- 

 sible mountains and pathless forests repel the 

 traveler; impassable ravines bar his advance; 

 sickness and death lie in wait for the white 

 man, while the native lurks with poisoned dart 

 behind every bush. 



The first of the race that came to us were 

 heralded by myth and invested with marvels : 



