CHAP. XV.] OUR BIRDS OF PARADISE. 347 



readily eat from our hands. By day he usually remained more or 

 less quiet, and was fond of resting motionless with the head sunk 

 low on the chest, but in the morning and evening he moved rest- 

 lessly from perch to perch with a peculiar bounding hop. His 

 manner of feeding was wonderfully neat. Any cockroach that 

 ventured into his cage he would catch with lightning rapidity, 

 seizing it across the body with his long, sharp beak. Then, giving 

 it a sudden snap, he would throw it in the air and catch it length- 

 ways, displaying the vivid grass-green colouring of his mouth and 

 throat in the operation. The only note he ever uttered was a 

 single unmelodious croak. The least fall in temperature seemed 

 to be felt by this beautiful creature, and though every care was 

 taken of him, he died before we got beyond the tropic. 



Of the Lesser Bird of Paradise we had four living specimens, 

 of which we succeeded in bringing three to England.^ They 

 gave us, perhaps, more trouble than any of our pets, owing to the 

 constant care they required and the size of the cages with which 

 they had to be provided, but we were amply rewarded by our 

 success in bringing them to Europe, and by the opportunity they 

 afforded us in watching the development of their plumes. They 

 were without these when we first obtained them, and soon after- 

 wards the feathers of the head dropped off, leaving them partially 

 bald, and in anything but an ornamental condition. New feathers, 

 however, rapidly appeared. They were almost white at first, but 

 soon assumed the delicate yellow shade of the adult dress. The 

 long, splendidly-coloured side plumes, which give the appearance 

 of a golden meteor to the male bird as he flashes through the forest, 

 came rapidly at first, but their later growth was extremely slow. 

 These birds — which we did not succeed in gettmg as tame as the 

 Seleucides — were fed on boiled rice, cockroaches, and banana, with 

 an occasional meal of chopped meat. 



^ One of the three has since died, but the others are alive and in excellent health 

 in the Gardens of the Zoological Society, where they have now been for more than 

 two years. 



