234 



its nest in such a manner that there is no opening but 

 from the bottom. At the bottom the bird enters, 

 and goes up through a funnel, like a chimney, till 

 it comes to the real door of the nest, which lies oa 

 one side, 



Some birds glue their nests to the leaf of the banana 

 tree, which makes two sides of their little habita- 

 tion ; while the other two are artificially composed 

 by their own industry. But these, and all of the 

 kind, are built with the- same precautions, to guard 

 their young against the depredations of monkics and 

 serpent?. The nest hangs there* before the spoilers, 

 a tempting object, which they can only gaze upon, 

 while the bird goes in and out without danger and 

 molestation. 



The Bird of Paradise appears to be as large as & 

 pigeon ? though in reality not much greater than a 

 thrush. The tail is about six inches long, the wings 

 are large, compared with the bird's other dimensions-. 

 The head, the throat and the neck are of a pale 

 goldrolour. The base ofthe bill is surrounded by black 

 feathers, as also the side of the head and throat, as 

 soft as velvet, and changeable like those on the neck 

 of a mallard. The hinder part of the head is of a 

 shining green, mixed with gold. The body and wings 

 are chiefly covered with brown, purple,aud gold fea- 

 thers. The uppermost part of the tail-feathers are of 

 a pale yellow, and those under them white and longer 

 than the former ; for which reason the hinder part 

 ofthe tail appears to be all white. But what chiefly 

 excites curiosity, are, two long naked feathers, which 

 spring from the upper part of the rump above th 

 tail, and are usually about three feet long. These 

 are bearded only at the beginning and the end, the 

 whole shaft, for above two feet nine inches, being of 

 a deep black, the feathered extremity of a chaageable 

 colour. 



This bird is a native of the Molucca islands. There, 

 |D- the delightful and spicy womte, do these beauUful 



