27



on the Lesser Bird of Paradise.



apoda in Liverpool, the only survivor of several which it had

been attempted to bring over. Abroad, a specimen of P. apoda

was exhibited in the Berlin Zoological Gardens in 1899. This

list is but a meagre one at best, so that the following notes on

the young P. minor living at Amsterdam may be interesting.


At the time of my visit the bird was apparently about

three years old, and was just completing moult. The head was

partly covered with minute prickly brownish feathers and partly

with pale creamy feathers of a velvety texture. There were no

long floating plumes springing from the sides of the body as in

the adult, but the long wire-like rectrices were already apparent

as two slender filaments in the centre of the tail. Since Birds

of Paradise are usually studied from dried skins only, it was

interesting to note the colour of the various structures during

life. The iris was pale gamboge yellow ; the beak and feet

leaden colour, the latter being faintly tinged with pink. The

tongue was also leaden colour and quadrifid (not bifid) at the tip,

each of the two rami into which it was split being themselves

also minutely bifurcated. The roof of the mouth and posterior

edge of the palate were beset with spiny elevations, probably to

assist the bird in holding its food.


This specimen was fond of basking in the sunshine like a

Glossy Starling and sat almost upright on its perch, with its head

turned to one side, and the wings extended and drooping as if to

present as large a surface as possible to the sun’s rays. It was

very ill-tempered, and on being approached kept up a most dis¬

agreeable croaking like a spoilt child that does not wish to be

meddled with. The Dutch keeper said that it had already been

three years at Amsterdam, so that its temper would probably

grow worse with age : it continued to make its unpleasant noise

almost the whole time that I stood by taking notes, and was

ready on the least provocation to recommence its efforts. The

bird appeared to be in excellent health. It was very fond of

mealworms, and was also fed on chopped hard-boiled egg,

grapes, carrots and dates.



