488 



The following 

 species. 



BIRDS OF PARADISE. 



figure is a representation of tliis 





P. minor. 



Such are the principal species of these curious 

 birds, and indeed the only ones which can be su'.is- 

 fuctorily proved to belong to the genus ; but there 

 have been, as was already stated, some species, prin- 

 cipally of the genus Epimachus of Cuvicr, though 

 those last are by him classed among the tenuirostres, 

 and are, from trie structure of their feet, anisodactylic 

 birds. But the foot of the birds of paradise is also a 

 peculiar one, and, in a strictly natural arrangement, 

 would prevent the classing of them with the common 

 omnivorous birds, which have all the toes free, and 

 the feet equally fitted for perching across a twig and 

 for walking on the ground. Their foot, is not anise- 

 dactylic, with the two outer toes united together, and 

 acting against the inner and the hind one : neither is 

 it syndactylic, having the external front toe and the 

 middle one of nearly equal length, and so united 

 together as to have partly the firmness of one broad 

 toe. But the foot of the birds of paradise partakes 

 something of both characters, though it is the inner 

 and the middle front toe which are united, and the 

 union does not extend so far as in the syndactylic 

 foot. The outer and middle toes are united and 

 soldered at their basis, and the hind toe is very long 

 in proportion to the rest. 



This foot does not thus come within any of the 

 descriptions of feet to which characteristic names 

 are given, and the habits of the genus are also differ- 

 ent from any of those with which we are familiar; 

 and as the genus epimachus and the genus paradisea 

 inhabit not only the same country, but the same 

 forests, and are both perchers, and have produced 

 feathers on the flanks, we must consider them as 

 naturally belonging not only to the same order, but 

 to the same group. They resemble each other even 

 to the velvety feathers on the head ; and it is a very 

 common law among birds, that where there is a 

 similarity in texture of feathers (how much soever 

 the colours may differ), there is a similarity in feeding 

 and in the general habits. 



So closely do some of the species of these two 

 genera resemble each other, that it is highly probable, 

 that when Cuvier changed the Paraduea alba of 

 former writers to Epimachux alba, he was misled (as 

 continental naturalists have been on former occasions), 

 by a mutilated specimen. He says : " Les pcnnes 

 primaires de scs ailes 'sont courtex, 'et bcauconp mcm- 

 b-euses qa ntix oiseaitx ordinaires." That this must 

 have been the case with the specimen (a skin, in all 

 probability, upon which Cuvier founded his descrip- 

 tion), is true; for of the subject before him Cuvier 



was an accurate observer and a faithful describer. 

 But it really appears thai this specimen must have 

 had the wings mutilated by the abstraction of the 

 whole, or the greater part of the priiiiary quills ; for 

 though the primaries are not very long, as they never 

 are in any of the tree birds which have produced 

 leathers, they are as long as in the ordinnry birds of 

 paradise. This species, if coincidence in all the 

 leading characters is to be considered as the founda- 

 tion of every arrangement, should make an eighth 

 species of the bird of paradise. 



8. WHITE BIRD OF PAKADISE (P. alba). This 

 species inhabits the same places, and has the same 

 habits, as the others. Its length is about nine inches 

 and a half. The feathers of the flank, which are 

 produced in the same manner as the others, are white, 

 with some markings of yellow. The filaments, which 

 are twelve in number, or six on each side of the bird, 

 issue not from the rump, but from the produced 

 feathers of the Hanks, and these filamentous produc- 

 tions an; about the thickness of a horse-hair, ten 

 indies in length, and twisted or curled in different 

 directions. The \vings arc of exactly the same form 

 as in the rest of the genus. This species is certainly 

 much less gay in its plumage than most of the order; 

 but if general form mid habit are to be the founda- 

 tions of arrangement, it is much more entitled to be 

 considered a species of this genus than P. micro is to 

 be a separate species from major. 



We must expect some time to elapse before the 

 natural history of these longand deservedly-celebrated 

 birds is any thing like perfect. They are not easily 

 observed in their native climes, because, when in a 

 state of repose, they are on the tops of the \ery 

 highest trees. Their countries, New Guinea espe- 

 cially, is very unsafe to visit for scientific or any 

 other purposes ; the natives are watchful of their 

 birds, as they constitute no inconsiderable branch of 

 their rude commerce ; and the skins which can be 

 purchased of them, whether of the true birds of 

 paradise, or of any of their gay brethren of the spicy 

 groves, can hardly be obtained in any other state 

 than mutilated and prepared for the market. 



They seem also to be as delicate, and difficult to 

 be transported, reared, or kept alive out of their 

 own very peculiar locality, as the mangosteens 

 and durias, and other choice fruits of that oriental 

 archipelago. There has, we believe, been instances 

 of their arrival in this country not absolutely dead, 

 but they were barely alive, all those fine and peculiar 

 feathers fallen oH', all the beauty of their colours 

 gone, and they themselves were landed only to pass 

 a few days in pain and misery. We might infer this 

 from their habit of perching and basking under the 

 ardour of the tropical sun, as well as from their 

 proneness to migrate even in that part of the world, 

 where the weather makes the nearest approach to 

 perpetual summer. 



BISMUTH. A mineral but little employed in 

 the useful arts. It is found in the native state some- 

 what alloyed by arsenic or cobalt, either massive, 

 dendritical, or in the form of a regular octohedron. 

 The ores of bismuth are but few ; in that called sul- 

 phuret of bismuth, it is combined with sulphur; in 

 another, called bismuth ochre, it is mineralised by 

 oxygen, and includes a small portion of oxide of iron. 

 It also occurs mineralised by the carbonic acid. 

 Native bismuth is rare, as well as its ores ; these are 

 found in veins, mostly in primitive mountains, accom- 



