THE BIRDS OF PARADISE. 23 



whole top of the head and neck is of an exceedingly delicate straw yellow, the feathers being short and 

 close set, so as to resemble plush or velvet ; the lower part of the throat up to the eye is clothed with 

 scaly feathers of an emerald green colour, and with a rich metallic gloss, and velvety plumes of a still 

 deeper green extend in a band across the forehead and chin as far as the eye, which is bright yellow. 

 The beak is pale lead blue ; and the feet, which are rather large and very strong and well formed, are 

 of a pale ashy pink. The two middle feathers of the tail have no webs, except a very small one at the 

 base and at the extreme tip, forming wire-like cirrhi, which spread out in an elegant double curve, and 

 vary from twenty-four to thirty-four inches long. From each side of the body, beneath the wings, 

 springs a dense tuft of long and delicate plumes, sometimes two feet in length, of the most intense 

 golden orange colour, and very glossy, but changing towards the tips into a pale brown. This tuft of 

 plumage can be elevated and spread out at pleasure, so as almost to conceal the body of the bird. These 

 splendid ornaments are entirely confined to the male sex, while the female is really a very plain and 

 ordinary -looking bird of an uniform coffee brown colour, which never changes ; neither does she possess 

 the long tail wires, nor a single yellow or green feather about the head. The young males of the first 

 year exactly resemble the females, so that they can only be distinguished by dissection. The first change 

 is the acquisition of the yellow and green colour on the head and throat, and at the same time the two 

 middle tail-feathers grow a few inches longer than, the rest, but remain webbed on both sides. At a 

 later period these feathers are replaced by the long bare shafts of the full length, as in the adult bird ; 

 but there is still no sign of the magnificent orange side plumes which, later still, complete the attire 

 of the perfect male. To effect these changes there must be at least three successive moultings ; and as 

 the birds were found by me in all the stages about the same time, it is probable that they moult only 

 once a year, and that the full plumage is not acquired till the bird is four years old. It was long 

 thought that the fine train of feathers was assumed for a short time only at the breeding season, biit 

 my own experience, as well as the observation of birds of an allied species which I brought home with 

 me to England, and which lived for two years, show that the complete plumage is retained during the 

 whole year, except during a short period of moulting, as with most other birds. The Great Bird of 

 Paradise is very active and vigorous, and seems to be in constant motion all day long. It is very 

 abundant, small flocks of females and young males being constantly met with ; and though the full- 

 plumaged birds are less plentiful, their loud cries, which are heard daily, show that they also are very 

 numerous. Their note is, ' Wauk-wauk-wauk-iuok-wok-wok,' and is so loud and shrill as to be heard 

 at a great distance, and to form a most prominent and characteristic animal sound in the Aru Islands. 

 The mode of nidification is unknown : but the natives told me that the nest was formed of leaves 

 placed on an ant's nest, or on some projecting limb of a very lofty tree, and they believe that it contains 

 only one young bird. The egg is quite unknown, and the natives declared they had never seen it ; 

 and a very high reward offered for one by a Dutch official did not meet with success. They moult about 

 January or February, and in May, when they are in full plumage, the males assembling early in the 

 morning to exhibit themselves in the singular manner already described. This habit enables the natives 

 to obtain specimens with comparative ease. As soon as they find that the birds have fixed upon a tree 

 on which to assemble, they build a little shelter of palm leaves in a convenient place among the 

 branches, and the hunter ensconces himself in it before daylight, armed with his bow and a number of 

 arrows terminating in a round knot. A boy waits at the foot of the tree, and when the birds come at 

 sunrise, and a sufficient number have assembled and have begun to dance, the hunter shoots with his 

 blunt arrow so strongly as to stun the bird, which drops down, and is secured and killed by the boy 

 without its plumage being injured by a drop of blood. The rest take no notice, and fall one after 

 another till some of them take the alarm." 



Speaking of the smaller Bird of Paradise (Paradisea papwma), Mr. Wallace says : " The true 

 Paradise Birds are omnivorous, feeding on fruits and insects of the former preferring the small figs ; 

 of the latter, grasshoppers, locusts, and phasmas, as well as cockroaches and caterpillars. "When I 

 returned home, in 1862, I was so fortunate as to find two adult males of this species in Singapore; 

 and as they seemed healthy, and fed voraciously on rice, bananas, and cockroaches, I determined on 

 giving the very high price asked for them 100 and to bring them to England by the overland 

 route under my own care. On my way home I stayed a week at Bombay, to break the journey and 

 to lay in a fresh stock of bananas for my birds. I had great difficulty, however, in supplying them with 



