418 THE KING BIRD OF PARADISE 



are modified into plumes, ribbons, and streamers, that produce the most surprising and 

 lovely effects. 



Various strange tales were told of these birds by the ancient writers. Tlie Paradise 

 Bird was thought to have no legs or feet, or use for them, but to pass its time floating in 

 the air, and only taking a little occasional rest by suspending itself from the branches of 

 a tree by the feathers of its tail. The obvious difficulty of hatching the eggs was 

 accounted for by saying that they were laid in the hollow formed by the plumage 

 of the male, and that the mother bird sat ujDon them while resting on the back of her 

 husband, both birds floating luxuriously in the breeze, and feeding on the soft dews of 

 heaven. This fable found its origin in the fact that the natives of the country where the 

 Paradise Bird resides, always cut off its legs before preserving the skin, so that all the 

 specimens which reached Europe were legless. The plan of preservation adopted was 

 simple in the extreme. The interior organs of the bird were removed, the legs cut 

 off, a hot iron thrust into the body, and the bird dried over a fire without any 

 further care. 



The food and habits of these birds seem to be very similar, although the plumage 

 is so distinct. I shall, therefore, give a detailed account of one species, and merely 

 present the reader with good figures and short descriptions of the others. These birds 

 had formerly been broken up into many genera, but are now very rightly shown to be 

 members of the same genus. 



The first species on our list is the Manucode, or I\jng Bied of Paradise, so called 

 because it was thought to exercise a regal sway over the other species, and to hold itself 

 aloof from them lilce a proud and imperious monarch. 



It is a very little bird, the body being scarcely larger than that of a common sparrow, 

 and is remarkable for the very eccentric way in which its plumage is arranged, as will 

 be seen from an examination of the engraving. The natives of the country which it 

 inhabits say that it lives in flocks of thirty or forty in number, under the guidance of 

 one bird which is termed the king, and which is known by the eyes at the extremity of 

 the long tail-feathers. They further relate that the whole troop perches together on the 

 branches of a tree, and that if the king can only be shot, the whole of his subjects 

 remain aroimd his dead body and can be slain without difficulty. 



Le Vaillant, in treating of this subject, remarks that the King Bird of Paradise verj' 

 often gets among a flock of another species, and would therefore hold, and be held, rather 

 aloof from them. INIoreover, this species is solitary, and is by no means fond of tall trees, 

 preferring to flit among tlie low bushes in search of tlie berries and other food on which 

 it subsists. The natives of New Guinea are in the habit of capturing the King Bird of 

 Paradise by means of a kind of bird-lime, which they make from one of their native 

 plants, and which they lay along the branches which the bird is known to frequent. 

 Dming the greater part of the year this species remains in New Guinea, but during 

 the western monsoon it migrates to the Aroo islands, returning as soon as the rainy 

 season sets in. 



Lesson, who had the opportunity of a few days' visit to New Guinea, and who, like an 

 enthusiastic naturalist, certainly made the very best use of his limited time, makes the 

 following remarks upon this bird : " The IManucode presented itself twice in our shooting 

 excursions, and we killed the male and the female. This species would seem to be 

 monogamous, or perhaps it is only separated into pairs at the period of laying. In the 

 woods this bird has no brilliancy ; its fine coloured plumage is not discovered, and the 

 tints of the female are dull. It loves to take its station on the teak-trees, whose ample 

 foliage shelters it, and whose small fruit forms its nourishment. Its iiides are brown, 

 and the feet are of a delicate azure. The Papuans call it Say a." 



The King Bird of Paradise is as beautiful as it is rare. The whole upper parts of the 

 body are rich chestnut with a wash of purple, and the under portions of the body are 

 pure white. Across the chest is drawn a band of light goldeu-green, and from the sides 

 and below the shoulders spring a series of featliers, disposed so as to form a plume, tlieu* 

 colour being dusky brown tipped with vivid green. From the upper tail-coverts spring 



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