CRAKLE. 175 



that there was every appearance of the crops suffering severely. 

 The governor, a sensible and observing man, and well ac- 

 quainted with the habits of the 

 Grakles, imported a number 

 of them from the continent, as 

 they never bred upon, or visited 

 the island. The consequence 

 was, that the locusts rapidly 

 diminished in number ; but the 

 people, seeing the birds busied 



in thrusting their bills into the Head of Gracula Religiosa. 



new-sown fields, fancied they could be only occupied in pick- 

 ing out the grain, and accordingly they made war upon the 

 poor Grakles, and destroyed them all, and forthwith the 

 locusts reappeared in full force. The fact is, the Grakles, 

 like our Rooks and Crows, are great destroyers of grubs and 

 insects, though, at the same time, it cannot be denied that 

 they may occasionally commit partial depredations on the 

 farmer's property. 



Some birds of the Grakle genus have a singular appendage 

 to the head, composed of a naked skin or wattle, which gives 

 them a very odd appearance, as shown in the above figure. 



Of the Paradise-birds we know but little, for. they are 

 almost entirely confined to New Guinea and a few neigh- 

 bouring islands in the Indian Seas, inhabited by wild tribes, 

 with whom travellers have but little communication. These 

 people catch the Paradise-birds and dry their skins, which 

 they barter with ships passing along the coast. It was for a 

 long time believed, by ignorant persons, that they had no legs, 

 for they were never seen alive, excepting when flying across 

 from one island to another, the natives always bringing dead 

 specimens for sale, without the legs, possibly because they 

 thought they looked better without them, in many species the 

 legs being coarse, and unbecoming a bird in every other respect 

 so exquisitely beautiful. It is quite impossible to describe 

 their beauty, or give even a faint idea of it without coloured 

 representations ; and few of the most favoured of the feathered. 



