BIRDS OF PARADISE. 



335 



emerald-green colour, and with a rich metallic gloss, ami velvety plumes of a still 

 deeper green extend in a broad 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 strongly and will formed, are of a pair 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 



^gSs55^ 



RED BIRD OF PARADISE (} liat. size). 



double curve, and vary from 24 to 30 inches in 



length. From each side of the body, beneath the 



wings, springs a dense tuft of long and delicate 



plumes, sometimes 2 feet in length, of the most 



intense golden-orange colour, and very glossy, 



hut changing towards the tips into a pale brown. 



This tuft of plumes can be elevated and spread 



out at pleasure, so as almost to conceal the body of the bird.' 



whole of the ornamental plumes are wanting, and the colour is a uniform coffee-brown. 



The lesser bird of paradise (P. minor), from New Guinea, and several of the adjacent 



islands, although considerably smaller, is very similar in general characteristics. 



On the other hand, the handsome species commonly known as the red bird of 

 paradise (P. sangwmea), from the islands of Waigiou, Ghemien, and Batanta is a 



In the female the 



