154 By Leafy Ways. 



It is not twenty-five years since Mr. Wallace's two 

 magnificent specimens of the Emerald Bird of Paradise 

 delighted the eyes of visitors to the Zoological Gardens. 

 Most of us have to be content with the skins alone ; 

 and even then, dried and distorted as the finest speci- 

 mens must always be, few objects in nature will bear 

 comparison with their marvellous beauty. The soft 

 and delicate tones of the colouring the emerald 

 throat, the yellow crown, the rich brown of the wings 

 and tail, the wonder of the flowing plumes which fall 

 round the living bird like a shower of gold all these 

 render the Great and the Lesser Birds of Paradise 

 two of the finest gems in the vast treasure-house of 

 Nature. This description applies to the male alone ; 

 his wife is of a plain and sober brown uniform 

 enough to satisfy the soul of the primmest Quakeress 

 of the ancient school. 



Birds which lay their eggs in holes are less exposed 

 to danger, and the difference between male and female, 

 if it exist at all, is much less strongly marked. 



The green woodpecker is a case in point. He is a 

 handsome bird. Although the bright colour of his 

 forester's dress harmonizes very well with the tone ot 

 his haunt among the orchards, and although his 

 solitary ways keep him mostly out of sight, yet once 

 observed, his crimson crest and yellow tail-coverts 

 catch the eye in a moment. And his wife, except for 

 an extra patch of red on his cheek, is as gay as he. 

 She and her brood, however, in their hollowed home 



