Birds-of-Paradise 



759 



thirty at various times at a well-frequented playhouse. On Mount Bartle Frere 

 I found fifteen of their bowers of different sizes within a radius of one hundred 

 yards. I have also seen them fully a mile apart." The nest and eggs of this 

 species are not known. 



The Tooth-billed Bower-bird (Scenopceetes dentirostris], so called from 

 the presence of two notches in the edge of the upper mandible, is mainly 

 olive-brown above and fulvous below, the feathers of the lower parts with 

 broad dusky brown margins; the sexes are alike. These birds do not build 

 the elaborate playhouses described for the other species, but clear away the 

 sticks and leaves from a level space from three to five feet in diameter, over 

 which they strew freshly gathered leaves from a particular kind of tree. These 

 leaves, from forty or fifty to a hundred or more in number, are from six to ten 

 inches long and about two inches wide, and as fast as they become dry are thrown 

 to one side, often forming heaps a foot or more high about the "circus-rings," as 

 these playgrounds are called. Here the birds assemble and may be seen play- 

 ing about or turning them over. This species affords a sort of transition, at 

 least as regards habits, to the so-called Catbirds (sEluroedus), since none of 

 these construct either bowers or playgrounds. They are birds about the size 

 of the true Bower-birds and have the plumage more or less spotted. The most 

 remarkable of the Bower-birds is a New Guinea species which builds a real 

 "house," or hut. Its remarkable structure is described and figured in "The 

 Ibis." 



BIRDS-OF-PARADISE 



(Family Paradiseidd) 



Beyond question the most gorgeously plumaged members of the entire class 

 are the splendid Birds-of-Paradise, and it is small wonder that the Europeans 

 who first beheld them should have called them "God's birds" and "Birds of 

 the Sun," and should have imagined them ethereal enough to feed only upon 

 dew, and it was an easy step to denominate them Birds-of-Paradise. The only 

 birds that can really compare with them, at least in brilliancy of coloration, are 

 the Hummingbirds and Long-tailed Trogons ; but when we consider the curious 

 not to say fantastic forms assumed by the plumage, they far surpass these, as 

 indeed they do all other birds. The plumes of these birds had doubtless been 

 used for ornamentation by savage people for a very long time, but apparently 

 the first to bring the Birds-of-Paradise to European attention were certain of 

 the adventurers who accompanied Magellan on his famous voyage around the 

 world. When, in December, 1521, they reached the island of Tidore, in the 

 Moluccas, they were given two beautiful bird skins by the native ruler, who 

 desired them to be taken to the King of Spain. As these skins, and in fact all 

 the early ones derived from native sources, were without wings or feet, they gave 

 rise to many fabulous tales, such as the notion that the birds spent their whole 

 lives floating in the air, turning always toward the sun, except perhaps rarely, 



