ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN 



83 



HOW BIRDS OF PARADISE ARE 

 CAUGHT. 



By An Old Australian Bird-Lover. 

 From Aviciiltural Magazine. 



RECENTLY, Mr. J. E. Ward arrived from 

 , New Guinea with a large and varied 

 collection of this wonderful country's 

 birds, each of them a treasure in itself. To see 

 them makes one long to have them all in one's 

 aviaries. There were not only a large number 

 of birds of paradise, such as the great, the king, 

 the six-wired, the magnificent, the superb, and 

 the long-tailed but also six specimens of the 

 "blue bird" species (Paradisornis rudolphi) — 

 the largest number ever brought alive out of 

 New Guinea by any collector. There were also 

 beautiful parrots of all colors, pigmy parrakeets 

 in blue, yellow, black, and white; different spe- 

 cies of rails (some looking like sparrows on 

 stilts) ; gorgeously colored fruit-eating and some 

 seed-eating pigeons not much bigger than star- 

 lings. Further, some lovely wrens and other soft- 

 billed birds. New Guinea finches of the nun type, 

 and a new species of chestnut finch. The golden- 

 crested bower birds were worth special mention, 

 and the gems of the collection were the long- 

 tailed kingfishers and wonderfully-colored pit- 

 tas. Of minor importance, though attractive 

 enough, were the red-eyed glossy starlings, 

 quails, and minahs, and various others I cannot 

 just now remember. Besides birds, Mr. Ward 

 brought a new species of wallaby and a collec- 

 tion of reptiles, which, by their wonderfully 

 vivid colors aroused the admiration of even those 

 who are less friendly inclined towards snakes 

 and lizards. I asked Mr. Ward to tell me how 

 he procures his birds, and he was good enough 

 to do so and give me permission to relate some 

 of his observations and experiences in the "Avic. 

 Mag." This is what he told me: 



"Port Moresby is generally the place where 

 the outfit for an expedition into the interior of 

 New Guinea is procured. A collector's license 

 has to be obtained, as well as a special license 

 for the taking of birds of paradise, dead or 

 alive. The fees for both are about £25, and 

 the number of birds of paradise permitted to be 

 taken are stated on the license. As one cannot 

 leave British New Guinea except via Port Mores- 

 by the conditions of the permit are strictly en- 

 forced, and an official counts the birds before 

 they are allowed to leave the country. Around 

 Port Moresby, in fact within days of it, nothing 

 of value in birds could be caught. The collect- 

 ing grounds as far away, along the Agabung 

 Kiver. the Fly — or St. Joseph's — River, which 



are reached via Yule Island. As one travels in- 

 land there are localities met with, as in Australia, 

 devoid of natives and birds, simply because there 

 is nothing to eat for either — it is desolation. 

 To cross these districts with a transport of birds, 

 the food for which has to be gathered on the 

 way, is a very trying matter. 



"The king bird of paradise and the great bird 

 of paradise are the first to be met within the 

 sultry river flats, and to obtain them is com- 

 paratively easy. Mr. Ward says the catching 

 of the great bird of paradise is quite a relig- 

 ious ceremony with the natives, and although 

 he tried hard during his several visits to be 

 allowed to be present he never succeeded in 

 seeing one caught. The men whose job it is 

 to catch them must not eat meat for days prior, 

 besides conforming to minor regulations. After 

 having absented themselves from the village the 

 women will carry their food (taro and bananas), 

 leaving it on the track unseen by the men. The 

 birds are caught in their dancing-tree with 

 snares, the most favorable method being a dou- 

 ble slipknot placed around a limb of the branch 

 of the tree in such a way that when the bird 

 gets his foot into the noose the cord tightens on 

 to it. and releasing itself from the branch, leaves 

 the bird dangling. Another way is to spread a 

 fine meshed net a little below the dancing birds, 

 which, when frightened, will fly downward to- 

 wards the under scrub and thus become entan- 

 gled in the net. The six-wired also dances, and 

 like the magnificent, performs on a ledge on the 

 ground. The long-tailed bird of paradise dances 

 on vines which spread from tree to tree, using 

 them in the same way as children would a swing. 

 The natives, knowing the birds' dancing-vine, 

 build a little hut or shelter close by, and when 

 the bird dances and is unconscious of its sur- 

 roundings they grab it by the tail, the feathers 

 of which are so tightly wedged into the body 

 that they withstand the struggles which follow." 



V .. Ward got his blue birds of paradise (5,000 

 feet high in very hostile country, and says the 

 natives there are the most superstitious he 

 ever met with in New Guinea. Whilst he was 

 able to make himself understood amongst the 

 tribes lower down in the Motu language, a sort 

 of Esperanto in New Guinea, he found here the 

 greatest difficulties, and even his interpreter left 

 much to be desired. To make the natives under- 

 stand the kind of bird he wanted he drew and 

 painted the blue bird, noting the exclamations 

 of the natives when they saw it. In this wise 

 he learned the native name for it. being manika. 

 He stayed in this village for several weeks, but 

 neither presents of tobacco, knires. tomahawks. 



