BIRDS OF PARADISE. 131 



and to refide there during the wet monfoon, but retire to 

 the Arrou iiles, about a hundred and forty miles to the eaft, 

 during the dry or weftern monfoons. In the eaft monfoon they 

 moult their long feathers, but recover them in the weft. They 

 always migrate in flocks of thirty or forty, and have a leader, 

 which the inhabitanss of Arrou call the King: he is faid to be 

 black, to have red fpots, and to fly far above the flock, which 

 never defert him, but fettle where he fgttles. They conftantly 

 avoid flying with the wind, which ruffles and blows their loofe 

 plumage over their heads, and often forces them down to the 

 ground, from which they are imable to rife without fome ad- 

 vantage ; hard fliowers of rain are equally deftruc^ive to them. 

 When they are furprifed with a ftrong gale, they inftantly foar 

 to a higher region, beyond the reach of the tempeft ; there they 

 float at eafe in the ferene Iky, on their light flowing feathers, or 

 purfue their journey in fecurity ; during their flight they cry 

 like ftarlings, but in the diftrefs of a ftorm blowing in their 

 rear, they exprefs it by a note refembling the croaking of 

 ravens. 



When they alight, it is on the higheft trees, the king taking 

 the lead ; they prefer the "caringa parvifoUa ■'■•, on the berries of 

 which thefe birds and various forts of parrots feed ; fome fay 

 that they feed on nutmegs, on butterflies, and even fmall birds; 

 the ftrength of their claws favors that opinion ; yet that circum- 

 ftance may alfo be requifite to birds, which are always to live 

 perched. The natives of Arrou watch their arrival, and either 

 Ihoot them with blunt arrows, or catch them with bird-hme or 



* Rumph. ili, tab. 90. 



noofes ; 



