PTILOEIS PARADISEUS. 



(Bifle Bird.) 



Male — Crown of the head and throat, clothed with small scale-like feathers of dark metallic green ; the upper surface and chest, deep black 

 with a beautiful purple blush in certain lights, the whole of this part of the plumage bemg exceedingly soft and velvety; abdome]i and flanks, 

 black, each feather broadly margined with bright olive green ; primaries, dull black ; the two central feathers of the tail rich metallic green, 

 the remainder, deep black ; bill and feet, black, with yellow soles ; irides, dark brown. 



Female — Upper surface greyish brown ; wing and tail, ferruginous brown ; stripe behind the eye and throat, white ; under 

 surface, buify white, spotted with black lunate marks on the chest, and banded on the abdomen with d?irk grey. The young male assimilates 

 to the female in plumage. 



Length, Hi inches ; wing, 6i ; tail, 4-| ; tarsus, 1\ ; bill, 2-§-. 



Three species of Eifle Bird are at present known to inhabit Australia ; the one represented in the accompanying plate being 

 that with which naturalists were first acquainted. It is limited to a small belt of country bordering the sea from the Hunter Eiver in the 

 south, to Moreton Bay at the north, being seldom found farther inland than twelve or fifteen miles. Its principal place of resort is the cedar 

 and pine scrubs, found on the high ranges bordering creeks and rivers, where it may be seen at sunrise ascending to the tops of the highest 

 pine trees, far out of the reach of gunshot, when its loud harsh call may be heard at a long distance. It ascends in a series of leaps from 

 branch to branch until it gains the summit, where it remains until the heat of the day increases, when it seeks the shade of tlie lower 

 portions of the scrub. During the middle of the day its call is seldom heard, but towards evening it again utters its shrill note at intervals 

 of about fifteen minutes. The voice of both sexes being similar, the anxious sportsman is often disappointed in his hope of obtaining a fine 

 adult male, such an acquisition alone repaying him for the very severe toil and labor entailed upon all who would see the Eifle Bird in its 

 native haunts. For a single fuU plumaged male, a dozen or more females or young birds may be obtained. The wings of the Ptiloris are not 

 adapted for long and sustained flight, being short and rounded, and its habits are suited to this conformation, the various thickly crowded 

 trees being visited at short intervals, and aff'ord an inexhaustible supply of insects and berries, on which it feeds. The feet are robust, and 

 well adapted for climbing. 



