PARADISE BIRD. 37 



garden proves attractive to the gay, but fickle 

 butterflies that flit about the flowers, as well as 

 to numerous wild birds. Individuals visiting 

 Macao are eager to view these splendid natural 

 objects ; and the liberal owner readily aflbrds this 

 gratification to the stranger no less than to his 

 friends. 



The first, both for variety as well as the in- 

 conceivable delicacy of its plumage and tints, of 

 which I intend to attempt a description, is that 

 " aerial creature" of fairy form, decked in na- 

 ture's most delicate and beautiful colours, the 

 Paradise Bird. This is the common or Great 

 Bird of Paradise, the Paradisea apoda* oihinneus, 

 the P. major of Shaw. The length of the bird 

 is usually two feet, measuring from the bill to 

 the tip of the side feathers. The specimen in the 

 possession of Mr. Beale, is a fine male, and was, 

 at the time I beheld him, arrayed in his full and 

 splendid plumage : he is enclosed in a large and 

 roomy cage, so as not, by confinement, to injure 

 in the slightest degree his delicate and elegant 

 feathers. 



This beautiful creature has been in Mr. 

 Beale's possession nine years, and was originally 



It is curious that Linneus, by bestowing upon this bird 

 tlie specific name of Apoda, or without feet, should have cre- 

 dited the assertion that it was so. 



