r 4% 3 



Genus XVI. PARADISE BIRD; 



N°i. Greater P. B* 



Var A. Leffer D°.. 



2. King P. B. 



3. Magnificent P. B» 



4. Gorget P. B„. 



N°5. Superb P. B. 



6. Gold-breafted P. B. 



7. Blue-green P. B. 



8. Golden P. B, 



BIRDS of this genus have 

 The bill flightly bending : the bafe covered with velvet- 

 like feathers. 



Noftrils fmalh.and concealed by the feathers. 



Tail confifting of ten feathers ; the two middle ones *, in 

 feveral of the fpecies, are very long, and webbed only at the bafe 

 and tips. 



Legs and feet very large and ftrong : three toes forward, one 

 backward ; the middle connected to the outer one as far as the 

 firft joint. 



The whole of this genus have, till lately, been very imperfectly 

 known ; few cabinets pofTeffing more than one fpecies, viz. the 

 Greater, or what is called the Common Bird of Paradife : nor has 

 any fet of birds given rife to more fables than this, the various 

 tales concerning which are to be found in every author ; fuch as— 

 their never touching the ground from their birth to death j living 

 wholly on the dew •, being produced without legs ; and an hundred' 



« Sometimes more: fee Forreft, Foy. p. 140, 141. 



fuch. 



