INTRODUCTION. 97 



number of plain coloured species, which would 

 certainly not have been transmitted with the more 

 attractive sorts, had not variety been consulted by 

 the dealers, in what they call their " assortment," as 

 much as beauty. In the second place, this splendour 

 of plumage is in unison with that law which renders 

 the productions of nature more rich and luxuriant, 

 whether in growth or colours, in proportion as the 

 countries they inhabit approximate the equinoctial 

 line. This we find in the splendid variety of birds 

 on the opposite coast of America, and in those far 

 more magnificent races which inhabit the torrid 

 islands of the Indian Ocean. The forests of Parra 

 contain the most splendid of all the Brazilian birds, 

 while it will be remembered that the whole of the 

 paradise birds are restricted to New Guinea and the 

 little isles of Aro and Banda in the Malayan seas. 



It may be reasonably inferred, also, both from 

 this richness of colour, and from the particular fa- 

 milies to which many of these birds belong, that 

 they have been met with in a woody country where 

 the vegetation is also luxuriant, and where insects 

 and fruits, the two chief sources of nourishment 

 to birds, are in plenty and perfection. We have 

 indeed no positive information on the geographic 

 features of the districts, or of the precise localities 

 where these birds were collected ; but by far the 

 largest proportion of them feed upon insects which 

 inhabit the vicinity of woods, or upon fruits which 

 grow therein. The collection contains very few of 

 those genera which live only in open plains or in 

 a 



