NATURALISTS CABINET. 



Value of their feathers Longest passage. 



open the bellies of the birds with a knife the mo- 

 ment they drop, and taking out the entrails and 

 part of the flesh, they introduce a red-hot iron 

 into the cavity, after which, they dry them by 

 smoke, and sell them at very low rate to the Eu- 

 ropeans. They are sent to all parts of India, and 

 to Persia, to adorn the turbans of persons of rank, 

 and even the trappings of the horses. A few 

 years ago our British ladies wore their fealhera 

 as an additional ornament to their head-dresses. 

 This bird is consequently confined to a very 

 small portion of the old world, and is never found 

 in any part of the new. Its longest passage is 

 from the islands of Arou to New Guinea, and 

 back again. Its return takes place during the 

 Tvestern or dry monsoon, and it repairs from 

 Arou to New Guinea at the commencement of 

 the eastern or rainy monsoon. The birds of Pa- 

 radise fly in flocks of thirty or forty, under the 

 conduct of a bird of their kind, which the natives 

 of Arou denominate the king, and is black with 

 red spots. This chief always flies above the rest 5 

 they never forsake him, and rest whenever he sets 

 the example. This submission, however, is the 

 cause of their destruction whenever the king 

 alights on the ground, being unable to raise 

 themselves again, on account of the particular 

 form and disposition, of their plumage as already 

 pbserved. 



