i 9 o CURIOUS CREATURES. 



by Means of the Support of the Air. Hereupon it came, 

 that this Bird is painted in Arms without Feet : and for 

 this Cause it is also given for a Difference of younger 

 Brethren, to put them in mind to trust to their wings of 

 Vertue and Merit, to raise themselves, and not to their 

 Legs, having little Land to put their foot on." 



The Alerion is a small bird of the eagle tribe, heraldi- 

 cally depicted as without beak or feet. 



Butler in " Hudibras " writes 



" Like a bird of paradise, 

 Or herald's Martlet, has no legs, 

 Nor hatches young ones, nor lays eggs." 



The Bird of Paradise was unknown to the ancients, 

 and one of the earliest notices of this bird is given in 

 Magalhaen's voyage in 1521 : "The King of Bachian, 

 one of the Molucca Islands, sent two dead birds pre- 

 served, which were of extraordinary beauty. In size 

 they were not larger than the thrush : the head was 

 small, with a long bill ; the legs were of the thickness 

 of a common quill, and a span in length ; the tail re- 

 sembled that of the thrush ; they had no wings, but in 

 the place where wings usually are, they had tufts of long 

 feathers, of different colours ; all the other feathers were 

 dark. The inhabitants of the Moluccas had a tradition 

 that this bird came from Paradise, and they call it 

 bolondinata, which signifies the ' bird of God.' " 



By-and-by, as trade increased, the skins of this bird 

 were found to have a high market value, but the natives 

 always brought them, when they came to trade, with 

 their legs cut off. Thence sprang the absurd rumour 

 that they had no legs, although in the early account 

 just quoted, their legs are expressly mentioned. Lin- 



