36 THE KING BIRD OF PARADISE. 



with two green feathers or buttons. These 

 wonderful buttons are not found in any other 

 species. They belong only to the King Bird of 

 Paradise, and it is a King Bird that we see 

 before us. 



The naturalist, gazing for the first time on this 

 gem of beauty, is filled with delight. But the 

 natives smile at his expressions of admiration. 

 After all, what is it but a mere " Goby-goby," as 

 they call it, a bird as common, with them as the 

 Thrush or the Robin is with us ! They see nothing 

 to wonder at ; still less to come thousands of miles 

 to obtain ! 



And it is a great mystery to them why the 

 naturalist should fill his hut with all those stuffed 

 birds, and insects ; and butterflies as large as your 

 hand, and dressed in green and gold and crimson. 

 Large and splendid as they are, nothing can be 

 more common. And surely the people who live 

 in his country, and make knives and looking- 

 glasses, and all manner of wonderful things, 

 cannot care about butterflies and goby-gobies ! 



One day an old man made a guess on the 



