CLASS II. AVES: ORDER 2. PASSERES. 



205 



Genus ASTRAPIA : Astrapia, includes the Pie of Paradise, or Incomparable of the French 

 A. (juUiris, a rare species of New Guinea. An idea of its form may be gathered from the pre- 

 ceding engraving, but no conception of the brilliancy of its metallic tints, and the varying play 

 of the light upon the plumage, can be afforded by description. 



THE SUPERB BIUD OF PARADISE. 



THE EMERALD BIRD OF PARADISE. 



PARADISEID.E OR BIRDS OF PARADISE. 



This group, which, notwithstanding their brilliancy and the renown which clusters around 

 them, arc nearly allied to the Corvid;e, belonging to New Guinea and the adjacent islands : here 

 they live in troops in the dense forests, one male surrounded by some fifteen females. The Great 

 Emerald Bird of Paradise, Paradisca apoda^ is remarkable for the large bunches of de- 

 composed plumes which issue from the body, and float gracefully in the air, and which are so 

 much coveted by the ladies of Europe and America as ornaments for head-dresses. In the 

 Superb Bird of Paradise, P. superba^ the feathers rise in wing-like tufts upon the back and 

 neck, giving it an aspect of gorgeous beauty and brilliancy. There are several other species, 

 some of them plain, but the greater part distinguished by these tufts of light, rich, floating plumes. 

 It is to be understood, however, that these ornaments belong exclusively to the males. Formerly 

 these birds were said to live wholly in the air, and hence there was the interest of the marvel- 

 ous added to that of their surpassing beauty. They are now known to live and nestle in the 

 forests, and to feed on fruits and seeds. The feathers are not only valued in commerce, but they 

 are used as decorations of the turbans of the chiefs of the islands where they are found 



THE BUCERIDJ3 OR HORNBILLS. 



The Hornbills are mostly of tolerably large size, some of them being of the stature of a smai. 

 turkey. Their general color is usually a greenish metallic-black, with the tail-coverts and the tail 

 white, or of some other light color; the tail generally has a black transverse band near the ex- 

 tremity. They are inhabitants of the hottest parts of the Old World, and especially of the islands 

 of the Eastern Archipelago and Africa. Their food consists of fruits, and according to some 

 naturalists, also of carrion and small animals, the latter of which they are said to squeeze to death 

 in their enormous bills, and then, throwing them up in the air, catch them and swallow them 

 whole. Lesson states that the African species live on carrion, and those of the East Indies on 



