KING OF BIRDS OF PARADISE. 1.51 



How taken ^Description. 



pear to breed in the islands of Arou, for the na- 

 tives assert that they have never found its nest, 

 and imagine that it comes from New Guinea, 

 and remains at Arou only during the west or dry 

 monsoon. They catch this bird with snares made 

 of a plant called by them gumu natty, or with a 

 viscous matter extracted from the bread-fruit. 

 They either dispose of these birds to the natives 

 of Banda, or keep them to ornament their hel- 

 mets with their plumage. 



M. Son nerat, who had an opportunity of ob- 

 serving this bird in his native land, has given us 

 the following description of it. " The king of 

 the birds of Paradise, , is about the size of the 

 European blackbird, lie differs from the other 

 species of birds of Paradise, in the length of his 

 wings, which project over his tail. His head, 

 neck, throat, back, tail, and wings, are of a glossy 

 red, as lively and brilliant as carmine, and at the 

 same time as soft and delicate as velvet. The 

 belly is white, which at the bottom of the neck 

 is bordered by a transverse green line. The fea- 

 thers composing this stripe are short, broad, and 

 possess the lustre and polish of metal. From 

 each side of the belly, beneath the wings, proceed 

 long feathers, grey at the bottom and part of their 

 length, but each terminated by a green spot of 

 equal lustre with those which form the collar 

 round the neck. From the middle of the tail 

 rise two long filaments, like the stems of black 

 feathers without barbs, extending far beyond the 

 S 



