194 BIRD OF PARADISE. 



None have ever reached this country in a living state, 

 and but one species, that we are aware of, has ever been 

 kept in confinement. This was the great Paradise-bird, 

 the flowing yellow plumage of whose tail is so much 

 prized as an ornament for ladies' head-dresses. It was 

 in the possession of a gentleman who had a valuable 

 aviary of the rarest foreign birds, at Macao, in China. 

 He kept it in a large cage, where it had abundance of 

 room for the display of its gaudy dress, of which it 

 seemed very proud ; dancing about when visitors 

 approached, as if delighted at being made an object of 

 admiration. It washed itself twice every day, and then 

 threw up its delicate feathers nearly over its head. 

 Nothing appeared to disturb it so much as any sort 

 of dust attaching itself to its plumage. For at its toilet 

 it pecked and cleaned all within reach, and throwing out 

 the elegant and delicate tuft of feathers underneath the 

 wings, cleaned each in succession, by passing it through 

 its bill. Having completed its toilet, it would utter its 

 usual cawing notes, and then look archly at the specta- 

 tors, as if ready to receive their admiration*. 



* See BENNET'S Wanderings in New South Wales, vol. ii. 



