BIRDS OF PARADISE. 139 



troops, assemble upon the tops of the highest trees 

 in the forests, and all cry together to call the males. 

 These last are always alone in the midst of some 

 fifteen females, which compose their seraglio, after 

 the manner of the gallinaceous birds." 



M. Lesson, after remarking that the number of 

 birds brought to the ship by the natives was so 

 great as to make it probable that they are very 

 abundant, proceeds thus : 



"The Manucode (Cincinnurus regius, VIEILL.) 

 presented itself twice in our shooting excursions, 

 and we killed the male and female. This species 

 would seem to be monogamous, or perhaps it is 

 only separated into pairs at the period of laying. 

 In the woods this bird has no brilliancy ; its fine 

 coloured plumage is not discovered, and the tints 

 of the female are dull. It loves to take its station 

 on the teak- trees, whose ample foliage shelters it, 

 and whose small fruit forms its nourishment. 



" Soon after my arrival in this land of promise 

 for the naturalist [New Guinea], I was on a shoot- 

 ing excursion. Scarcely had I walked some hun- 

 dred paces in those ancient forests, the daughters 

 of time, whose sombre depth was perhaps the 

 most magnificent and stately sight that I had ever 

 seen, when a Bird of Paradise struck my view ; 

 it flew gracefully, and in undulations ; the feathers 

 of its sides formed an elegant and aerial plume, 

 which, without exaggeration, bore no remote re- 

 semblance to a brilliant meteor. Surprised, as- 

 tounded, enjoying an inexpressible gratification, I 

 devoured this splendid bird with my eyes ; but my 

 emotion was so great that I forgot to shoot at it, 

 and did not recollect that I had a gun in my 

 hand till it was far away. 



