PASSERINE. CONIROSTRES. 269 



feet having been invariably cut off in preparing the 

 skin, and the intestines withdrawn, the bird was 

 fabled to be without feet, and, therefore was a 

 permanent inhabitant of the air, or rested only sus- 

 pended by its long feathers : and, having no bowels, 

 it of course lived without food, its subsistence being 

 derived from dew, vapours, and similar light diet. 

 It is superfluous to add that these are idle fables, that 

 the Birds of Paradise are in no respect essentially 

 different from others, save in the splendid beauty 

 of their plumage ; and even in this particular they 

 are, perhaps, equalled if not surpassed. Round the 

 base of the bill grows a mass of velvety feathers, 

 most richly adorned with metallic lustre ; while from 

 the sides of the body, under the wings, grow long 

 plumes, singularly disposed in bunches, of great soft- 

 ness and beauty, used by ladies for head-dresses. 

 From the rump proceed two long bearded shafts, 

 curled at the end into a rounded disk. Some of the 

 species, however, have these peculiarities scarcely at 

 all developed. The Emerald Bird of Paradise (P. 

 Apoda) is that most commonly brought to this 

 country. They inhabit New Guinea, and the neigh- 

 bouring islands, where they are said to associate in 

 flocks, and to feed on fruits. 



M. Lesson, who during a stay of about a fort- 

 night at the Island of New Guinea attentively 

 studied their habits, has given us a few interesting 

 particulars. He says, " The Emerald (P. Apoda), 

 the only one of which we have any certain infor- 

 mation, lives in troops in the immense forests of the 



