254 MARVELOUS STORIES. 



they had no feet ; they slept upon the wing ; 

 they fed upon dew, and hatched their eggs 

 upon their backs. Such were the tales that 

 accompanied the skins, magnificent beyond any- 

 thing known to the world in the glory of plu- 

 mage, and they were named Birds of Paradise. 

 But science is supposed in these days to con- 

 quer all mysteries, and science armed itself 

 with powder and shot, game bags, provision 

 trains, and servants, and set out for the far- 

 away inhospitable islands, the home of this, 

 the most attractive of all. Science has solved 

 many problems : the " Heart of Africa " has 

 become a highway ; the Polar sea and the 

 source of the Nile are no longer unknown ; 

 but with her most persistent efforts during 

 three hundred years she has not yet been 

 able to give us the life history of this one 

 feathered family. Many of her devotees have 

 penetrated to its home and brought back fresh 

 varieties ; money, health, and life have been 

 freely spent ; but, save for a few strange 

 and curious facts, we know little more of the 

 manner of life of the Birds of Paradise than 

 we did when we depended on the native le- 

 gends. How some of them look we know ; 

 we have their skins wired into shape in our 

 museums and gorgeously pictured in our books ; 

 but every traveler finds new kinds, and how 



