BY JOHN REINHOLD FORSTER, LL. D. 13 



ON THE 



BIRDS OF PARADISE, 



AND THE 



P H CE N I X, 



TH E Birds of Paradife are a genus of birds fcarcely as yec 

 fufficiently known to the ornithologifts, becaufe few of 

 them are imported into Europe, and thofe, too, mutilated in their 

 feet, wings, and other parts, or diftorted by having a fticic thrufh 

 within their fl^ins, and thus too much lengthened. No real 

 naturalift ever had the fortune to fee a live Bird of Paradife, or to 

 have obferved their manners and economy * j for they inhabit a 

 region vifited by very few Europeans, fince fcarcely any but failors 

 and merchants are permitted to penetrate into the remotell eaft, the 

 country of the Paradife-birds. The hiftory of this genus is there- 

 fore ftill full of falfities, or rather buried in fuch darknefs, that 

 ■we can fcarcely hope to gain more and truer information con- 

 cerning them, till fome perfon, by a journey into thefe parts, is 



* Sir Joseph Banks did me the favor of communicating the drawing of the 

 common Bird of Paradife, brought alive to England, drawn from the life. T. Po 



enabled,. 



