GOLDEN-WINGED MANAKIN. 479 



beautiful birds was celebrating its dances on the smooth sur- 

 face of a rock. About a score of them were seated on the 

 branches as spectators, while one of the male birds, with 

 proud self-confidence, and with spreading tail and wings, was 

 dancing on the rock. He scratched the ground, or leaped 

 vertically in the air ; continuing these saltatory movements 

 until he was tired, when another male took his place. The 

 females, meanwhile, looked on attentively, and applauded the 

 performances of the dancers with laudatory cries. 



Wallace, in his later work on the Eastern Archipelago, 

 gives an equally animated picture of the king birds of para- 

 dise enjoying a similar performance on the topmost boughs 

 of the most lofty trees in the Aru Islands. 



GOLDEN-WINGED MANAKIN. 



The golden- winged manakin another tribe are often seen 

 perched in large flocks on the summits of the trees, or rapidly 

 moving amid the branches in search of the rich fruits and 

 numerous insects found in the gapo forests. 



The beautiful little troupiale, arrayed in plumage of rich 

 orange and shining black, with delicate and well -shaped 

 form, pours forth a variety of sweet and plaintive notes 

 among the dry forest lands, and has gained from the Portu- 

 guese the name of the nightingale of America. 



There is another of a smaller size, and of less rich a colour, 

 which also sings melodiously. It is a fearless bird, and the 

 hen builds her nest often in the roofs of cottages, while her 

 mate sings for hours close by. There are several species, one 

 of which (the oriolus varius) builds a curious nest like a 

 basket, of a conical form, and of a loose texture ; securing it 

 to the flexible end of a branch, thus enabling it the better to 



