390 THE BIRDS OF PJRABISE. [ch. xxxviii. 



tion of each of the known species, and then add some 

 general remarks on their natural history. 



The Great Bird of Paradise (Paradisea apoda of Lin- 

 naeus) is the largest species known, being generally 

 seventeen or eighteen inches from the beak to the tip of 

 the tail. The body, wings, and tail are of a rich coffee- 

 brown, which deepens on the breast to a blackish-violet 

 or purple-brown. The whole top of the head and neck 

 is of an exceedingly delicate straw-yellow, the feathers 

 being short and close set, so as to resemble plush or 

 velvet ; the lower part of the throat up to the eye is 

 clothed with scaly feathers of an emerald green colour, 

 and with a rich metallic gloss, and velvety plumes of a 

 still deeper green extend in a band across the forehead 

 and chin as far as the eye, which is bright yellow. The 

 beak is pale lead blue ; and the feet, which are rather 

 large and very strong and well formed, are of a pale ashy- 

 pink. The two middle feathers of the tail have no webs, 

 except a very small one at the base and at the extreme tip, 

 forming wire-like cirrhi, which spread out in an elegant 

 double cuiTe, and vary from twenty-fou.r to thirty-four 

 inches long. From each side of the body, beneath the wings, 

 sj)rings a dense tuft of long and delicate plumes, sometimes 

 two feet in length, of the most intense golden-orange colour 

 and very glossy, but changing towards the tips into a pal^ 



