CH. XX NEW GUINEA AND ITS INHABITANTS 425 



the breast are bordered with glittering bands of emerald 

 green ; while the large tufts of fluffy plumes on the lower 

 part of the body are of a rich buff yellow. This fades 

 into white after the dried skins have been exposed to the 

 light, hence the misleading specific name of Seleucides alba. 

 On each side six of these fluffy plumes have the shaft 

 elongated into curled black wires, about ten inches long 

 and bent outwards. We have here one of the finest con- 

 trasts of colour and strangest developments of plumage 

 even in this wonderful family. This species is found in 

 the north-western peninsula of the great island. 



All the birds of paradise are exceedingly active and 

 vivacious, the males meeting together in rivalry to display 

 their gorgeous plumage, while the female birds are always 

 unornamented and are usually plain or positively dingy in 

 their colouring. From an unknown antiquity the natives 

 of New Guinea have been accustomed to preserve the 

 skins of these beautiful birds, and barter them with the 

 Malay traders, by whom they were universally known as 

 " burong mati," or dead birds, because they had never 

 seen them alive. As the natives used always to cut off 

 the feet in order to preserve them more easily, the Malay 

 and Chinese traders concluded that they had none ; and 

 all sorts of stories were told about their living continually 

 on the wing, and being in fact birds of heaven, whence 

 originated the names of " Birds of Paradise " and " Birds of 

 the Sun," given them by the early Portuguese and Dutch 

 writers. Down to 1760 the skins of these birds never 

 reached Europe with feet attached to them, and the great 

 Linnaeus recorded the fact by naming the largest kind 

 Paradisea apoda, or footless Bird of Paradise, a name by 

 which it is still known among men of science. The 

 natives also generally cut off the wings, so as to give 

 greater prominence to the ornamental feathers ; and this 

 gives the birds an altogether different appearance from 

 what they really possess in a living state, or when properly 

 preserved. 



By far the greater number of these birds, and those of 

 the richest colours and most remarkable plumage, live on 

 the mainland of New Guinea, and they are especially 



