EXPERIENCES WITH THE NATIVES 163 



logical Gardens, writing in September, comments 

 on the moulting habits of the Birds of Paradise there : 

 " The majority of the birds shed their plumage 

 at this season. The Birds of Paradise, however, are 

 just coming into full plumage. The plumes of the 

 males of these birds are moulted in spring and 

 developed again in autumn, and the birds are now 

 beginning from time to time to go through the 

 remarkable performance known as ' display.' I 

 watched the performance as exhibited by a specimen 

 of the species known as Count Raggi's. The bird 

 kept its wings stretched out horizontally with its neck 

 bent round so that the top of its head and beak 

 touched its perch, while the long, delicate plumes of 

 the flanks were erected into a graceful tuft on each 

 side, rising vertically above the wings. In this 

 attitude it executed a kind of little dance, moving up 

 and down and then giving a little jump on the perch 

 and uttering a slight cry. It is curious that this 

 display, which is, of course, connected with courtship, 

 should be exhibited by these birds in autumn and 

 winter, while in our European birds, as, for example, 

 the comical little ruffs to be seen in the Waders' 

 Aviary, it begins in spring. We can understand the 

 coincidence of the courting spirit with the return of 

 warmth and sunlight in the northern hemisphere, 

 but in New Guinea and the neighbouring islands, 

 within a few degrees of the equator, where the 

 Paradiseidae live, there is little difference in the 



M 2 



