PASSERES. PARADISEAD^E. 



liant plumage of the male, is clad in sombre 

 attire. We met with them, assembled in scores, 

 on every tree, while the males, always solitary, 

 appeared but rarely. 



"It is at the rising and setting of the sun that 

 the Bird of Paradise goes to seek its food. In 

 the middle of the day it remains hidden under the 

 ample foliage of the teak-tree, and comes not 

 forth. He seems to dread the scorching heat of 

 the sun, and to be unwilling to expose himself to 

 the attacks of a rival 



" In order to shoot Birds of Paradise, tra- 

 vellers, who visit New Guinea, should remember 

 that it is necessary to leave the ship early in the 

 morning, to arrive at the foot of a teak-tree or 

 fig-tree, which these birds frequent for the sake 

 of their fruit, before half-past four, and to remain 

 motionless till some of the males, urged by hun- 

 ger, light upon the branches within range. It is 

 indispensably requisite to have a gun which will 

 carry very far with effect, and that the grains of 

 shot should be large ; for it is very difficult to kill 

 an Emerald outright ; and if he be only wounded, 

 it is very seldom that he is not lost in thickets so 

 dense that there is no finding the way without a 

 compass." * 



In Mr. Bennett's " Wanderings in New South 

 Wales," &c., there are many interesting details 

 of an individual of this beautiful species, which 

 he saw in captivity in Mr. Beale's aviary at Macao; 

 both this specimen, and a pair which M. Lesson saw 

 caged at Amboyna, were fed with boiled rice, and 

 such large insects as grasshoppers and cock-roaches. 



* Voyage de la Coquille. 



