CH. xxxviiT.] STRUCTURE AND AFHNITIES. 389 



New Guinea, and generally more or less imperfect. These 

 are now all known in the Malay Archipelago as " Burong 

 Tiiati," or dead birds, indicating that the Malay traders 

 never saw them alive. 



The Paradiseidse are a group of moderate-sized birds, 

 allied in their structure and habits to crows, starlings, and 

 to the Australian honeysuckers ; but they are characterised 

 by extraordinary developments of plumage, which are 

 unequalled in any other family of birds. In several 

 species large tufts of delicate bright-coloured feathers 

 spring from each side of the body beneath the wings, 

 forming trains, or fans, or shields ; and the middle feathers 

 of the tail are often elongated into wires, twisted into fan- 

 tastic shapes, or adorned with the most brilliant metallic 

 tints. In another set of species these accessory plumes 

 spring from the head, the back, or the shoulders ; while 

 the intensity of colour and of metallic lustre displayed 

 by their plumage, is not to be equalled by any other birds, 

 except, perhaps, the humming-birds, and is not surpassed 

 even by these. They have been usually classified under 

 two distinct families, Paradiseid* and Epimachidse, the 

 latter characterised by long and slender beaks, and sup- 

 posed to be allied to the Hoopoes ; but the two groups 

 are so closely allied in every essential point of structure 

 and habits, that I shall consider them as forming sub- 

 divisions of one family. I will now give a short descrip- 



