14 



j)ulsations. When you approach his cage he often treats you with 

 a ditty, which I have called in my memorandum ' the song of solici- 

 tation.' It is short, but very pleasing, and not a little curious, for 

 the notes are repeated in harmonic piogression. 



" The Serenade of Beale^s bird. 



^ 



£ 



± 



" The first four notes are very exactly intonated, very clear, and 

 very sweet. The three last are repeated in a kind of caw, a very 

 high refinement of the voices of a daw or a crow, yet possessing a 

 striking resemblance. And this suggests a lively aflinity between the 

 crows and the paradise birds. While this serenade is uttered, the 

 black pupil, encircled by a golden iris, waxes or wanes, as the crea- 

 ture wishes to contemplate more distant or nearer objects. The bill 

 snaps as the prelude of a meal and the token of appetite, while the 

 body is conveyed from side to side by the highest and most easy 

 springs. The crow and its congeners love to range upon the ground, 

 as having feet formed for walking, but the Paradise Bird shuns the 

 bottom of the cage, as if afraid of soiling its delicate plumage. For 

 I must observe, that it is always as clean and wemless as it is gay 

 and splendid. The Creator, who has poured so much beauty upon 

 it, has also endowed it with an instinct to delight in these charms, 

 and with wisdom to presei^ve them in their fullest integrity. In the 

 wild state it is not unlikely that they catch their prey upon the wing, 

 either by taking it in flight, like the swallow, or by darting upon it, 

 like the Drongo Shrike, as it passes by the seat of its pursuer. 



" The form and disposition of the pennons afford it the power of 

 floating gracefully upon the breeze, not of cutting the air in rapid 

 flight. The ease with which it glides upon the aurse must be in- 

 creased by the hypochondrial feathers, which are lifted up and dis- 

 played in the act of flying. The hypochondrial feathers are yellow 

 at the base, whitening towards the end, with brown shafts. The 

 shortness of the vanes make them resemble the teeth of a saw near 

 the end. The tail-coverts with long toothed shafts. The feet and 

 legs are of a dark leaden blue. They are strong, and grasp the perch 

 with great ease and firmness." 



Mr. Fraser pointed out the characters of several new species of 

 Humming-birds, which had been placed in his hands by the Earl of 

 Derby for that purpose, and that they might be exhibited at one of 

 the Society's scientific meetings. These birds were obtained at S" 

 F^ de Bogota, and the collection contained eighteen species, a great 

 portion of which being undescribed, were thus characterized ; — 



Teochilus exortis. T. rostro quUm caput paiilulum loiigiore ; 

 caudd nigrescente, latissimd, suhfurcatd ; colore viridi ; jwctore 

 cceruleo enitente ; maculd frontali splendidi viridi ; lacinid gulari 



