INTRODUCTION. 155 



females and young, are, in the two typical genera, 

 shades of brown or greyish brown, without any 

 metallic lustre, darker on the wings and tail, and 

 having the coronal and gular patches sometimes 

 slightly indicated by a difference in the structure of 

 the feathers. It is from this cause that, as in many 

 other instances, the numbers of species have been 

 much increased and the synonymy much entangled ; 

 sufficient attention not having been paid to form 

 and proportion in those states which were most 

 liable to be confounded together. 



The plumage, in its texture, is in general rather 

 loose and disconnected, assuming the scaly form 

 on the crown and throat; and it is in the typi- 

 cal forms only that we see the greatest diversity 

 of its structure; it is here also only, that we 

 have the scaly and imbricated distribution, the soft 

 velvety feel (N. amethystina\ occurring in the 

 plumage of some of the Paradiseadce and Pro- 

 iwropidce, together with the axillary tufts before 

 mentioned, so gorgeously displayed in both the 

 above families, with occasional elongation of the 

 tail-coverts (N. splendida). In some, also, the 

 feathers forming the coloured pectoral bands are 

 very large and full, and we believe that during 

 the height of the season of courtship they can be 

 and are erected at will, and exhibit a brilliant 

 dress of attraction and contrast between the sober 

 colours of the female. In describing his Sucrier- 

 Protee, Le Vaillant states that the Dutch inhabi- 

 tants denominate these birds by a provincial name 



