BIRDS OF PARADISE. 



481 



in tn; life of man, in which the toy of the child has 

 ceased to please, and the mind is yet all too inex- 

 perienced for " standing' up against the wind of the 

 world's temptation :" it is the tirre of peril that at 

 which knowledge stands most in jeopardy of error, 

 and character and happiness of ruin. 



The false charm of these birds has been dispelled : 

 they have feet and wings, just as the most humble 

 and despised of our common birds have ; and so far 

 from feeding upon nectar, they feed on the pulpy and 

 farinaceous parts of fruits, upon worms and insects, 

 and the can ion of larger animals; and it is probable 

 that they rob the nests of the smaller birds, and even 

 strike the birds theinselv< on the head, and eat their 

 flesh ; at least, all this would accord with their ana- 

 logies as omnivorous birds, and birds of bold and 

 pugnacious character; and these facts 'have, in part, 

 been established by observation. The truth is, that 

 they more nearly resemble, in their habits, our magpies 

 and jays than they do any other of our resident birds ; 

 and it will be borne in mind, that these are among 

 the gayest of our birds both in the tints and the 

 metallic glosses of their plumage. 



Still, though these birds have lost all the ethereal 

 and fairy-laud part of their character, their real interest 

 lias not been thereby diminished. In human exhibi- 

 tion*, we despise the puppet when we discover the 

 string ; and the picture, which appeared fine at a 

 distance, becomes a daub when we examine it too 

 closely. But so different is it with nature, that we 

 never can see enough of the moving power, or ap- 

 proach sufficiently near for finding out all the beauty. 

 Hence, whatever may be the case in human character 

 and conduct, the romance of nature is always lame 

 and tiring as compared with the reality. 



It is so in the case of the birds of paradise, and we 

 cannot be too thankful to the naturalists, who have 

 delivered those children of the sun from the bondage 

 of fable, and brought them to the light and the freedom 

 of science. They are singularly formed ; they in- 

 habit a very peculiar portion of the globe ; and we 

 may rest assured, that when once we have fully found 

 it out, they have a singular tale to tell. 



New Guinea may be considered as the head- 

 quarters of the genus, and they range seasonally 

 between it and the smaller isles which lie in its 

 vicinity. Their feet (which, by the way, require to 

 be more carefully examined as to the articulation of 

 the toes) are not ground feet, but perching ones ; and 

 though they live in the depth of the forests, they do 

 not, in fine weather at least, hide themselves in the 

 covert of the twigs and leaves, but perch on the 

 summits of the loftiest trees, being thus the highest 

 dwellers in the forest. Their flight is that, of the 

 tribe with which their habits more immediately con- 

 nect them. It is undulating and jerky, and not smooth 

 and continuous. Their wings are short and broad, 

 and probably their curiously produced feathers act in 

 some sort as a parachute to render their settlement 

 on their elevated perch more easy. It. is obviously, 

 however, not a plumage for entering into the tangled 

 parts of the trees, and contending with the twigs and 

 other interruptions, as may be seen from the four 

 species represented on the plate "Birds of Paradise :" 

 to the two of which that are represented on the wing 

 Landscer has contrived to give more buoyancy, and 

 even appearance of upward motion, than perhaps 

 the burin alone ever previously imparted to the 

 representation of a bird. They put one in mind of 

 NAT. HIST. VOL. I. 



the floating figures in the ckefs-d'tsiwe of Rafiaellc, 

 which, all wingless as they are, ride more lightly by 

 the magic of the master's hand than the compositions 



ich less skilful and scientific artists endeavour to 

 bear up upon those incongruous, and therefore un- 

 seemly appendages. These two birds are quite a 

 study ; but they probably may not strike the un- 

 practised eye so much as inferior productions, which 

 first attract the attention because they are out of 

 nature, and then please mechanical taste by tl.at 

 handling of the tool which is feeble and lifeless in 

 proportion as it labours to be fine. We seldom need 

 to invite attention to what conies from this artist, and 

 such would be a work of supererogation ; but, in the 

 present case, we must appeal to the picture to help 

 us out : the flight of a bird of paradise is, from the 

 peculiar form and lightness of those produced sup- 

 plemental feathers, so unlike that of any bird with 

 which we are familiar in Britain, that to give a verbal 

 description of it would be no successful matter ; and 

 we feel satisfaction in being saved from the chance of 

 failure, by bidding the reader turn to the plate, and 

 see the birds on the wing. 



We know not enough of the habits of these birds 

 to be enabled to say what specific purpose their very 

 singular plumage answers in their economy ; but we 

 know that those herons which have feathers somewhat 

 similarly produced, migrate with the seasons, and 

 follow the line of the waters, leaving those districts in 

 which the brooks and pools seasonally become dry, 

 and the rivers low. We know also that the islands 

 in which birds of paradise have hitherto been found, 

 arc subject to alternations of rain and drought, though 

 not so violent nor of so long continuance as in the 

 more extended lands within the tropics. Farther, we 

 know that in the tropical countries the fervent heat 

 of the rainless period, comes at last to have all the 

 effects of a winter, in the suspension of animal and 

 vegetable action. The depth of the tangled forest is, 

 indeed, in some measure, proof against the heat, and 

 the 'creatures which inhabit and feed lower down and 

 more in the shade than the birds of paradise, can still 

 obtain their subsistence. But though the smooth 

 leaf reflects off much of the heat, and does not fall or 

 wither, the vegetable action of the tree, at least in the 

 exposed part of it, is suspended ; and when the 

 vegetable action of trees is suspended, the feeding of 

 insects upon them is suspended also. In our gardens 

 and groves, it is the young and growing leaf on which 

 the caterpillar feeds ; and when the hardened leaves 

 of autumn are consumed, they are consumed not by 

 animals of any kind, but by the smaller fungi. We 

 arc not to suppose that the leaves of tropical trees 

 are, in the dry season, consumed in the same way, 

 for humidity is as necessary to the growth of this 

 smaller vegetation as it is to that of the larger; but if 

 the leaves are less fit for the production of fungi than 

 with us, much more must they be less fit for the food 

 of leaf insects ; and though there are tropical insects 

 which are wholesale consumers of decayed or decay- 

 ing trees, they attack them from the ground, consume 

 the wood rather than the bark, are not found on those 

 parts of the trees where the birds of paradise reside, 

 and therefore they cannot be considered as forming 

 even a part of the food of these bircts. 



Thus, as one part of those countries in which they 

 have their haunts becomes parched, the birds of para- 

 dise must remove to another, just in the same manner 

 as the lighter herons which have similarly produced 

 PP 



