338 



PERCHIXG BIRDS. 



six-Plumed Bird Another strange and beautiful representative of a group in which 



of Paradise. a n are lovely beyond description is the six-plumed bird of paradise 

 {Parotia serpen /uV) of New Guinea, which is the only known member of its genus. 

 In common with the remaining members of the family, this bird has a short tail, 

 without any elongation of the central pair of feathers, while it is specially char- 

 acterised by three pairs of very long racket-feathers springing from the sides of the 

 head. With the exception of a vivid steely-green bar across the crown of the head, 

 and a tuft of silvery feathers at the base of the beak, together with a green and 

 bronze gorget on the breast, the plumage is almost entirely black ; the tuft of 

 silvery feathers on the beak being capable of erection or depression at will. For 

 many years this splendid species was known only by skins badly prepared by the 



HEAD OF Srx-PLUMED BIRD OK PARADISE. 



(From Gnillemard's Cnii.se of Hie Jfarchesa.) 



natives; but eventually it was observed in the living state by Signor Albertis, 

 who writes as follows of his first sight of it in its native haunts : — " After standing 

 still for some moments in the middle of the little glade, the beautiful bird peered 

 about to see if all was safe, and then he began to move the long feathers of his 

 head, six in number, from which his name is derived, and to raise and lower a 

 small tuft of white feathers above his beak, which shone in the rays of the sun 

 like burnished silver ; he also raised and lowered the crest of stiff feathers, almost 

 like scales, and glittering like bits of bright metal with which his neck was 

 adorned. He spread and contracted the long feathers on his sides in a way that 

 made him appear now larger and again smaller than his real size, and, jumping 

 first on one side and then on the other, he placed himself proudly in an attitude 

 of combat, as though he imagined himself fighting with some invisible foe. All this 

 time he was uttering a curious note, as though calling on some one to admire his 

 beauty, or perhaps challenging an enemy." From this account it would appear that 

 the species is much less arboreal in its habits than the other members of the family. 

 Tie standard- Even more remarkable than the last is the standard- wing (Semi- 



Wing. optera imllacei), from the islands of Batchian and Gilolo, which like- 



