X.J 



THE RESIDE NT'S AVIARY. 



219 



changed, we soon Ijeeame intimate ; with the more readiness, 

 perhaps, on finding that Mr. Morris took great interest in birds, of 

 which he had made a large collection on his travels. His aviary, a 

 large and well-lighted room, kept with great care, contained a great 

 variety of the rarest and most beautifnl of the parrots of the 

 Papuan region — the gigantic - beaked Microglossus, sombre ^ of 



' //' 



HEAD OF 1'ESQUEt's I'AKUOT. {DasyptUus pesqiieti.)\ 



plumage and slow of movement; the long -tailed Aprosmidus 

 dorsalis, of wonderfully vivid hues; numbers of brush -tougued 

 lories of every shade of colour ; the jetty-plumaged Chalcopsittacus 

 atcr ; and lastly, most singular of all its kind, the rare Pesquet's 

 I'arrot (Dasyptilus 2)i'squcfi), half vulturine in appearance, and with 

 the face and throat bare — a native of the mainland of New Guinea. 

 But the gems of the collection were two superb specimens — both 

 full-plumaged males — of the Twelve -wired Bird of Paradise 

 {Seleucidcs). The native-prepared skins seen in European museums 

 give no idea of the glorious beauty of the living bird. The sub- 

 alar plumes, wdiose prolonged and wire-like shafts have given the 



