484 



BIRDS OP P A II A D I S K. 



Inn:; are always narrow, as if it were the mere rid^re 

 of a chain of mountains rising above the water, is, on 

 'this account, the garden of the world in respect of 

 the beauty, the richness, and also the peculiarity of 

 its vegetable productions. The vicinity of the sea to 

 all parts of the land of these small isles, and the 

 general set of the wind from the wide Pacific, prevent 

 these places from being visited by those se\ei<: 

 droughts which parch more extended lands in tro- 

 pical climates ; but still there are shifting monsoons, 

 and varying seasons even there ; and though the 

 birds of paradise never have been known to range 

 beyond the limits that have been stated, that is be- 

 yond the isle of Ternate on the north-west, and New 

 Guinea on the south-east, yet they have their seasonal 

 motions answering to the monsoons within their own 

 limits. 



The monsoons are distinguished as the dry and the 

 wet, the first blowing from the west, and the second 

 from the east ; but it is to be understood of all those 

 regular seasonal winds, which are occasioned by the 

 ordinary action of the sun upon the surface of the 

 earth, that the monsoon, whether wet or dry, has its 

 cause in the place toward which the wind sets. 

 Thus, although the dry monsoon blows from the 

 west, it begins in New Guinea, and proceeds gra- 

 dually westward. It is the drying and heating of 

 the surface of New Guinea which rarefies the air, 

 makes it ascend, and thus puts the monsoon in mo- 

 tion. And when the heat and drought have become 

 sufficient to produce these effects, the woods of that 

 island are in that state in which they furnish the 

 least possible supply of food for these dwellers on 

 their tops. Consequently the birds are compelled to 

 seek better pastures; and their very structure, when- 

 ever they get on the wing, turns their heads and 

 preserves their courses in that direction in which 

 food is to be found. This dry monsoon from the 

 west does not extend very far to the westward of the 

 limit which has been mentioned ; because, further 

 west, the larger lands which lie on opposite sides of 

 the equator (Asia on the north, and Australia and 

 Africa on the south), give another direction to the 

 seasonal currents ; and by the way it is where the 

 sets of these different monsoons, meet or cross each 

 other, that the tiffoons or gusts of variable wind are 

 so violent and so dangerous to navigation. 



The drying effect of this west wind is of course in 

 proportion to the time of its continuance ; and thus 

 the drought and the progress of the birds both pro- 

 ceed westward, the one turning the east wind to a 

 west wind, and the other following up to that wind's 

 commencement. When the western part of the 

 range becomes dry and the monsoon shifts, the birds 

 again return upon the east wind, and reach the dif- 

 ferent places as the rain has brought abundance. 

 Thus they are not in any one locality either during 

 the rigour of the drought or the violence of the 

 rain, but rather during that season of plenty which 

 follows the latter. 



The species of birds of paradise are differently 

 stated bv different describers, and they have been 

 confounded with some other genera, or rather per- 

 haps the genus Epimachus has been confounded 

 with them. Indeed there is a portion of ornithology, 

 including a number of very beautiful birds of warm 

 countries, and ranging from the birds of Paradise to 

 the bee-eaters, or at all events to the hoopoe, which 

 is not very clearly defined, and will perhaps, when 



the structures of the different species are a little 

 better known, require some modification in the 

 arrangement. 



Thrre are, however, seven or eight species of 

 birds of paradise, of which the characters are tole- 

 rably made out . and to these we shall restrict the 

 details of this article. 



They have all produced feathers with flocculent 

 webs on the flanks, the scapulars, or both ; they have 

 in general long thread-like feathers in the tail, which 

 end in little discs or pallettcs ; and the plumage of 

 the rest of their bodies is in a great measure peculiar. 

 All their feathers ure better formed for taking hold on 

 the wind than for making way against it ; for they 

 are all remarkable for their loose and velvet-like tex- 

 ture. This is remarkable in the feathers of the head, 

 and in those of the neck, more especially in the spe- 

 cies which have a ruff of produced feathers upon that 

 part ; but it is not confined to these, for the whole 

 plumage of the body, and even the Hying feathers of 

 the wings, have a more loose and velvety texture 

 than those of most other birds. 



In this respect, the birds of paradise, which are 

 dwellers on the tops of trees, or hoverers over them 

 in the air, bear a considerable resemblance to the 

 humming-birds, which are hoverers over flowers ; 

 and along with the same velvety texture of plumage, 

 they have the same richness of metallic reflections, 

 more especially in bronze colour and golden green. 

 No contrast of plumage can be greater than that of 

 these birds with the parrot tribe, which often inhabit 

 among the sprays and twigs of the same trees on the 

 tops of which the birds of paradise roost. The tints 

 of the parrots are rich ; but they ure generally tints 

 of entire colour, without gloss, and without any 

 reflection or chang-e of shade from the different direc- 

 tions in which the light falls upon them. The feathers 

 on the parrots are also in general firm, hard, and 

 well made cut, as if suited for enduring the contact 

 of those branches among which they have to make 

 their way, while those of the birds of paradise appear 

 to be fit for contact with the air only. The plumage 

 of the one set of birds bears, in fact, some resem- 

 blance to a coat of mail, while that of the other is 

 soft and flocculent all over. The texture of feathers, 

 as varying with the haunts and habits of different 

 birds, has not been investigated with that attention 

 which it deserves ; but it certainly forms a very 

 marked and therefore a very useful character ; and 

 the contrast is no where more striking than between 

 the parrots and the birds of paradise, the one having 

 to find their way among the thickly ramified branches, 

 the other only in the free air. We shall now very 

 shortly notice the species. 



1. GREAT (OR COMMON) BIRD OF PARADISE. 

 (Paradisea major). The trivial name apoda, which 

 has been given to this species is inaccurate, as the 

 bird, instead of being " footless," as that name implies, 

 has very stout feet, though short in the tarsi, and 

 otherwise not well adapted for walking on the 

 ground. They are, however, very efficient perching 

 feet; and from the peculiar way in which the toes 

 are united, and the great length of the hinder toe, 

 they are well adapted for resting, not merely by 

 perching on a twig, but on the top of the leaves, as, 

 though differently constructed and differently used, 

 they still bear a resemblance to those feet with the 

 produced hind toe and claw which fit their owners for 

 walking upon tall and elastic herbage on the ground. 



