24S cassell's book of birds. 



Lesson is of opinion that the Bird of Paradise lives in a state of polygamy, and tells us that the males 

 are most active in their endeavours to show their glorious apparel to full advantage when desirous of 

 attracting the attention of the females. We learn from Rosenberg that in order to obtain the Bird of 

 Paradise, the natives, during the dry season, build little huts of twigs and leaves amongst the branches 

 in one of the trees usually selected as a sleeping-place. About an hour before sunset this leafy bower 

 is occupied by a man who is considered to be a practised shot ; silently he crouches until the flock 

 begins to arrive, and then one after another he marks them out and strikes them to the ground, with 

 an arrow armed with a conical wooden cap as large as a teacup, so arranged as not to injure the 

 plumage of the bird. In some places limed twigs are employed for this purpose, and in others snares 

 are laid upon the branches of the fruit-trees in such a manner as to entangle the foot of the unsus- 

 pecting victim, who, when thus caught, is at once drawn down by means of a long string. 



Mr. Wallace gives the following interesting account of his experience among these beautiful 

 creatures in their native haunts : — " When I first arrived " (at Waigiou) " I was surprised at being told 

 there were no Birds of Paradise at Muka, although there were plenty at Bessir, a place where the natives 

 caught them and prepared the skins. I assured the people I had heard the cry of these birds close to 

 the village, but they would not believe that I could know their voice. However, the first time I went 

 into the forest I not only heard but saw them, and was convinced there were plenty about ; but they 

 were very shy, and it was some time before we got any. My hunter first shot a female, and I one day 

 got close to a very fine male. He was, as I expected, the rare red species, Paradisea rubra, which 

 alone inhabits the island, and is found nowhere else. He was quite low down, running along a bough 

 searching for insects, almost like a Woodpecker, and the long, black, ribbon-like filaments in his tail 

 hung down in the most graceful double curve imaginable. I covered him with my gun, and was going 

 to use the barrel, which had a very small charge of powder and number eight shot, so as not to injure 

 his plumage, but the gun missed fire, and he was off in an instant among the thickest jungle." After 

 describing other unsuccessful attempts, Mr. Wallace proceeds : — " At length the fruit ripened on the 

 fig-tree close by my house, and many birds came, to feed upon it ; and one morning, as I was taking 

 my coffee, a male Paradise Bird was seen to settle on its top. I seized my gun, ran under the tree, 

 and gazing up, could see it flying across from branch to branch, picking a fruit here, and another 

 there, and then, before I could get a sufficient aim to shoot to such a height (for it was one of 

 the loftiest trees of the tropics), it was away into the forest. They now visited the tree every 

 morning, but stayed so short a time, their motions were so rapid, and it was so difficult to see 

 them, owing to the lower trees which impeded the view, that it was only after several days' 

 watching, and two or three misses, that I brought down my bird — a male in the most magnificent 

 plumage." 



We are indebted to Dr. Bennett for the following graphic account of a Bird of Paradise, which 

 lived for nine years in the aviary of Mr. Beale of Macao : — " This elegant creature has a light, playful, 

 and graceful manner, with an arch and impudent look ; dances about when a visitor approaches the 

 cage, and seems delighted at being made an object of admiration; its notes are very peculiar, 

 resembling the cawing of the Raven, but its tones are by far more varied. During four months of the 

 year, from May to August, it moults. It washes itself regularly twice daily, and after having performed 

 its ablutions throws its delicate feathers up nearly over the head, the quills of these feathers having a 

 peculiar structure, so as to enable the bird to effect this object. Its food is boiled rice mixed up with 

 soft egg, together with plantains, and living insects of the grasshopper tribe ; these insects, when 

 thrown to him, the bird contrives to catch in its beak with great celerity ; it will eat insects in a living 

 state, but will not touch them when dead. I observed the bird, previously to eating a grasshopper, 

 place the insect upon the perch, keep K it firmly fixed with the claws, and divesting it of the legs, wings, 



