1^0 



SPICY ISLANDS, 



different colors, and not to be defcribed ; and few are more dif- 

 ficult to be reprefcnted in words, than thofe of this genus. 



The time in which they were brought to Europe was very 

 early, and I fufpe6l long before they were obferved by any na- 

 turalifts. There is reafon to believe that the Turks received them 

 by means of the Arabians^ who procured them from India by 

 their commerce on the Redfea or Perfian gulpb, and fold them 

 for ornaments to the turbans of the great officers of the Janif- 

 faries. Belon firft took notice of them, and creduloufly believed 

 them to have been the Ph(£nix ; in one place he fuppofes them to 

 have been the Rhyntaces ; he juftly defcnbes them as forming a 

 vaft mafs of feathers ilTuing from a fmall body, out of which the 

 Arabians had extricated the fiefli ; which agrees with the ufual 

 method of preparation. NicJjolas de NicJjolai a6tually gives the 

 figure of a captain of JaniJJdries ornamented with its plumes : 

 Gejner is the firft who caufed this bird to be engraven, and his 

 figure and that of Clufius was long copied by fucceeding natu- 

 rahfts. 



Few birds are more circumfcribed in their limits than the 

 Birds of Paradife. They are confined within the Papua iflands, 

 and that of Neio Guinea^ and are found only from Latitude 8° 

 fouth, to Lat. 3° north of the equator, and between Longitude 

 127 and 140. 



Common. ^^^^ ^^ the general view of thefe wonderful bir<ls. The 



Paradifea Apoda*, of which there are two varieties called 

 the greater and leflTer birds of Paradife, chiefly inhabit 

 the Arrou iilesi. They are natives of both New Guinea as 

 Avell as of thefe iflands, are fuppofed to breed in the firll, 



* Lin. Syft. 166. PJ. Enl. 254. f Edw. no. Latham, ii. 471. 



and 



