66 THE FEATHERS. 



child suffering from agonizing pain. We have listened 

 by the hour together to the repeated and successive 

 wailings of these wild melancholy birds ; first, the scream 

 is faint, and so distant as scarcely to reach the ear; then 

 increases as the bird passes nearer, till, as it continues 

 its flight, the sound gradually dies away. Soon, another 

 scream from another quarter is faintly heard; and so on, 

 till the dawn appears, when they betake themselves to 

 the element on which they pass the day. 



The distance, too, at which some birds may be heard 

 is very extraordinary, The brown Crane of North 

 America, which soars to an amazing height, when almost 

 out of sight utters a note which is so distinctly heard, 

 that an experienced sportsman would imagine it to be 

 close at hand. 



From the notes and voice of birds, we will next pro- 

 ceed to their feathers and wings. A more beautiful, 

 light, and compact piece of machinery, or more perfectly 

 adapted for the purposes for which it is intended, cannot 

 be conceived, than a feather. For beauty, look to the 

 colours and shades presented by the glossy plumage of 

 our Peacocks and Pheasants, with which everybody is 

 familiar ; but their colours, beautiful and brilliant as 

 they are, shrink into insignificance compared with the 

 dazzling coverings of many others, found only in the 

 hotter climates of the globe. It is difficult to make a 

 selection amongst the splendid variety which might be 

 named ; but perhaps the Ptiloris Paradiscus, a bird of 

 New Guinea, little known, is one of the most beautiful. 

 It is impossible for any written description, or even 

 coloured represention, to give an accurate idea of this 

 most splendid creature. Its size is about that of a small 

 pigeon, and its general colour is a deep velvet black, 

 glossed on the upper parts with rich brownish lilac, 

 which in some lights leaves the margin of each feather 

 black, and gives them a scale-like appearance. The 

 whole part of the head is covered by a crown of smaller 

 scale-like feathers, of a splendid metallic green ; each 



