410 THE BIRDS OF PARADISE. [ch. xxxviii. 



erected at pleasure. The general colour of this bird is a 

 delicate olive-brown, deepening to a kind of bronzy olive 

 in the middle of the back, and changing to a delicate ashy 

 violet with a metallic gloss, on the crown of the head. 

 The feathers, which cover the nostrils and extend half-way 

 down the beak, are loose and curved upwards. Beneath, 

 it is much more beautiful. The scale-like feathers of the 

 breast are margined with rich metallic blue-green, which 

 colour entirely covers the throat and sides of the neck, as 

 well as the long pointed plumes which spring from the 

 sides of the breast, and extend nearly as far as the end of 

 the wings. The most curious feature of the bird, however, 

 and one altogether unique in the whole class, is found in 

 the pair of long narrow delicate feathers which spring 

 from each wing close to the bend. On lifting the wing- 

 coverts they are seen to arise from two tubular horny 

 sheaths, which diverge from near the point of junction of 

 the carpal bones. As already described at p. 41, they are 

 erectile, and when the bird is excited are spread out at 

 right angles to the wing and slightly divergent. They are 

 from six to six and a half inches long, the upper one 

 slightly exceeding the lower. The total length of the bird 

 is eleven inches. The bill is horny olive, the iris deep 

 olive, and the feet bright orange. 



The female bird is remarkably plain, being entirely of a 

 dull pale earthy brown, with only a slight tinge of ashy 



