262 CURLY-HEADED BIRDS. 



indefatigable naturalists who have braved the 

 dangers and discomfort of their wild island 

 home, neither to the English Wallace, the 

 Dutch Von Rosenburg, the Italian Beccari, nor 

 to D'Albertis, nor Bruiju, nor De Myer, whose 

 names will be forever associated with the splen- 

 did family, but to a British officer of scientific 

 tastes. 



M. Comrii is the largest, and has more curls 

 than any other yet discovered, for they not 

 only decorate the top of the head, but extend 

 down the neck, and form ridges over the eyes. 

 Even the tail partakes of the general curve, 

 which makes it boat-shaped, and — most fan- 

 tastic of all — the two middle feathers are 

 nearly an inch shorter than their next neigh- 

 bors, and turned over at the ends so as to dis- 

 play the different color of their inner surface, 

 and form what ladies call " revers." 



" Such eccentricities are really not to be 

 accounted for, as we cannot conceive they can 

 be for any useful purpose " (!), gravely says 

 science in the person of an English authority. 

 This severely disapproved of plumage is blue 

 with green lights on back and head, and black 

 edged on every feather, with purple on the 

 breast. 



Another species of the curly family, the 

 Blue-green Paradise Bird QM. Chalybea), has 



