THE BIED OF PARADISR 183 



Specimens of the birds of paradise had found their 

 way to Europe, through the native traders of the Oriental 

 Archipelago, and their surpassing gorgeousness of plumage 

 had disposed the credulous to receive the fabulous narra- 

 tions with which their history was invested. Gradually 

 these absurdities were exploded; but still no naturalist 

 had ever beheld the birds in native freedom, till jVI. Lesson, 

 the zoologist attached to one of the French exploring ex- 

 peditions, touched at the island. He diligently used the 

 few days' stay he made on the coast, and obtained a score 

 of the birds. Thus he narrates his first observation of 

 the living gem : — 



" Soon after my arrival in this land of promise for the 

 naturalist, I was on a shooting excursion. Scarcely had 

 I walked some hundred paces in those ancient forests, the 

 daughters of time, whose sombre depth was perhaps the 

 most magnificent and stately that I had ever seen, when 

 a bird of paradise struck my view ; it flew gracefully, and 

 in undulations ; the feathers of its sides formed an ele- 

 gant and aerial plume, which, without exaggeration, bore 

 no remote resemblance to a brilliant meteor. Surprised, 

 astounded, enjoying an inexpressible gratification, I de- 

 voured this splendid bird with my eyes ; but my emotion 

 was so great that I forgot to shoot at it, and did not 

 recollect that I had a gun in my hand tUl it was far 

 away." * 



The bright spot in the memory of Audubon, the enthu- 

 siastic biographer of the birds of America, was the dis- 



• Voy. de la Coqidlle. 



