612 



MR. D. 6ETU-SMIT1I ON TUE DISPLAY 



unlike that of any other Bird-of- Paradise so far as our know- 

 ledge of these hirds goes; and, before the specimen now in the 

 Society's Gardens connnenced to display, this remarkable per- 

 formance had apparently never been witnessed. 



There is more than one attitude of display assumed in the 

 case of most birds, and in D. m. huusteini there appear to be 

 three or four which, as a rule, follow one another in regular 

 sequence, though frequently the final attitude is assumed without 

 the others. 



When inclined to display the bird sits on the perch with the 

 plumage rather relaxed and utters two or three notes sounding 



Text-fiffure 4. 



Final uttitudc with mouth chiscd. 



like qiia-qua-qua, and then suddenly adopts the attitude depicted 

 in text-fig. 1, the pectoral shield being brought into prominence 

 and its sides thrown up considerably above the level of the head — 

 at the same time the tail being thrown sideways. In the second 

 stage the body is brought into a horizontal position, the sides of 

 the pectoral shield erected, and the central tail-feathers held 

 above the level of the body with their brilliant metallic surfaces 

 visible from the front (text-fig. 2). 



In a third stage, which is not often observed, the head is thrown 

 further back and the erected tail more forward, the two long. 



