CHAP. XXXI.] THE GREAT PARADISE BIRD. 225 



very active, flying strongly with a whirring sound, and 

 continually hopping or flying from branch to branch. It 

 eats hard stone-bearing fruits as large as a gooseberry, and 

 often flutters its wings after the manner of the South 

 American manakins, at which time it elevates and expands 

 the beautiful fans with which its breast is adorned. The 

 natives of Aru call it " Goby-goby." 



One day I got under a tree where a number of the Great 

 Paradise birds were assembled, but they were high up in 

 the thickest of the foliage, and flying and jumping about 

 so continually that I could get no good view of them. At 

 length I shot one, but it was a young specimen, and was 

 entirely of a rich chocolate-brown colour, without either 

 the metallic green throat or yellow plumes of the full- 

 grown bird. All that I had yet seen resembled this, and 

 the natives told me that it would be about two months 

 before any would be found in full plumage. I still hoped, 

 therefore, to get some. Their voice is most extraordinary. 

 At early morn, before the sun has risen, we hear a loud 

 cry of " Wawk — wawk — wawk, wok — wok — wok," which 

 resounds through the forest, changing its direction con- 

 tinually. This is the Great Bird of Paradise going to seek 

 his breakfast. Others soon follow his example ; lories and 

 parroquets cry shrilly, cockatoos scream, king-hunters 

 croak and bark, and the various smaller birds chirp and 

 whistle their morning song. As I lie listening to these 



VOL. II. Q 



