50 



several well-marked groups. The first includes the true Birds-of- 

 Paradise, remarkable for their abundant long plumes, which, with 

 their striking colors, render them perhaps the most beautiful of 

 all birds. These plumes grow mostly from the sides of the breast, 

 and are sometimes fully two feet in length. Sometimes they take 

 the form of broad fan-shaped tufts, with additional ornamental , 

 plumes on the head or tipping the tail-feathers. Among the most 

 remarkable are the Red Bird-of-Paradise, the King Bird-of-Para- 

 dise, the Twelve-wired Bird-of-Paradise, etc. (Case S). The 

 Manucodes, while less gaudily arrayed, are remarkable for the 

 velvety texture of their plumage. The long-billed Birds-of-Para- 

 dise include likewise many striking forms, being adorned with 

 large breast-shields and silky flank-plumes, as the Rifle-birds, or 

 very long and brilliantly-colored tails, as the Elliot and Magnifi- 

 cent Birds-of- Paradise. The Bower Birds of Australia and New 

 Guinea, remarkable for constructing arbor-like play-grounds, 

 most elaborately woven and ornamented (see Fig. 15), are also 

 now associated with the Paradise Birds. 



The great Starling family {Siiimidce) includes the true Starlings, 

 the Glossy Starlings of Africa, and the numerous species of Pas- 

 tors and Mynas of India. While some of the Pastors and Mynas 

 are plainly colored, the true Starlings and the Glossy Starlings 

 are clad in brilliantly iridescent plumage. They are mostly gre- 

 garious birds, numbering about two hundred species, and all are 

 confined to the Old World. 



The American Orioles, Blackbirds, and Troupials (family 

 IcteridcB) may be considered as the New World representatives of 

 the Old World Starlings and Mynas, though not in reality very 

 closely related to them. They number not less than one hundred 

 and fifty species, and are represented in the United States by 

 such familiar forms as our Baltimore and Orchard Orioles (see 

 Groups 32 and 2,3), the Bobolink, Cow-bird, the Blackbirds and 

 Grackles (see Case B). The group finds its metropolis, however, 

 in tropical America, where more than nine-tenths of the species 

 are found, including most of the Orioles (some fifty in number), 

 and the numerous tribe of Cassicans, none of which latter are 

 found north of Southern Mexico and Central America (see Case G.) 



The largest family of the Song-birds is that of the great group 



