^ 



t 



* 



BED BIRD OF PARADISE.— ParcKiisea rubra. 



each feather. The breast tuft, however, forms an exception to this rule, being of the most 

 brilliant steely green, glittering with gem-like radiance in the sunbeams. Although it is 

 not a veiy large bird, measuring only nine inches in total length, it is really not so very 

 inferior in size to the emerald Paradise Bird, as its tail is short and its plumage 

 closely set. 



The last species of these birds which will be mentioned in these pages is the Eed 

 Bird of Paradise. 



Although not possessed of such dazzling and refulgent plumage as characterises several 

 of its kin, it is yet a most beautiful bird, and both for the soft delicate purity of the tints 

 with which it is adorned, and the harmony of their arrangement, may challenge compe- 

 tition with any of the feathered race. In size it is about equal to a small pigeon. The 

 forehead and chin are clothed with velvet-like feathers of the iutensest green, so arranged 

 as to form a kind of double crest on the forehead, and a sharply defined gorget on the 

 throat. The head, back, and shoulders, together with a band round the neck immediately 

 below the green gorget, are rich orange-yellow, golden in the centre and tinged with 



