49 



vivacious, shrewd, and impudent, but very amusing and interest- 

 ing, and are in their manners quite unHke the sedate, dignified, 

 and highly sagacious Crows and Ravens. The most striking of 

 the Jays inhabit tropical Asia and tropical America. The family 



Fig. 15. Bower Bird {Chlnmydodera nuchalis) and play-house. 



also includes the Nut-crackers and Choughs, and numbers alto- 

 gether nearly two hundred species. 



Quite nearly related to the Crows and Jays, though so different 

 from them in external appearance, are the gorgeous Birds-of- 

 Paradise {FaradiseidcB), of Australia and New Guinea, and the 

 neighboring Papuan Islands. The forty or more species fall into 



