342 CLASS AVES. 



9 



the bird to which they allude is the King Paradise bird, 

 (P. Regia,) which is sufficiently designated by the size, and 

 the appearance of eyes upon the tail feathers. But even 

 supposing that these birds had really been seen among the 

 individuals of the species now under consideration, there was 

 no foundation for drawing the very extraordinary conclusions 

 we have just cited. Levaillant, who regards nature with 

 the sober views of a philosopher, and with all the accurate 

 observation of a practical naturalist, observes, in an article 

 on this very bird (P. Regia), that it frequently happens 

 with birds living in flocks, that one of them having strayed 

 from his associates, and being unable to find them again, 

 Avill unite himself to a troop of another species, and remain 

 attached to it for a whole season, particularly in those places 

 usually inhabited by his own consimilars. These new 

 comers into a country, Avith a species not their own, natu- 

 rally exhibit habits different from their companions. They 

 preserve in the midst of them a foreign air, and always 

 remain a little apart, which gives them the appearance of 

 commanding the troop, and directing its operations. 



The extent and suppleness of the feathers of the Great 

 Bird of Paradise, gives it a facility of rising to a very con- 

 siderable elevation, and cutting the air with a lightness 

 which has doubtless caused it to be sometimes named the 

 Ternate Swalloiv. But when the wind becomes too strong, 

 these birds are obliged to rise perpendicularly, until they 

 arrive at a less agitated region of the atmosphere. Not- 

 withstanding this facility of escape, sudden hurricanes will 

 arise, and greatly discompose their feathers, and they are 

 then heard to utter cries resembling those of the raven or 

 crow. The islanders who hear these cries rush upon t e indi- 

 viduals who fall, and who can only escape death by alighting 

 on some eminence sufficiently high to enable them to resume 

 their flight. The natives also take them in other ways, by 



