238 



VEBTEBRAT£S. 



Emerald Bird of Faradiee. 



Emerald Bird of Paradise. — This most gorgeous and 

 elegant bird was once the subject of much discussion between 

 naturalists. The natives of New Guinea were accustomed to dry 



them, having first cut off their 

 legs, and then to offer them for 

 sale. In this footless state they 

 reached Europe, where it was im- 

 mediately stated that the bird 

 lived always -in the air, buoyed up 

 by the lightness of its feathery 

 covering ; that the shoulders were 

 used as its nest; that the only 

 rest it took was by suspending itself from a branch by the fila^ 

 mentary feathers of the tail ; that its food was the morning dew ; 

 together with many other conjectures not -less ingenious than 

 amusing. 



This bird appears about the size of a jay. Its body, breast, 

 and lower parts are of a deep rich brown ; the front set close with 

 black feathers shot with green; the throat is of a rich golden 



green; the head yellow; 

 the sides of the tail are 

 clothed with a splendid 

 plume of long downy 

 feathers of a soft yellow 

 color. By these are 

 placed two long filamen- 

 tous shafts, which extend 

 nearly two feet in length. 

 Of these beautiful fear 

 thers the "bird is so proud that it will not suffer the least speck of 

 dirt to remain upon them, and it is constantly examining its 

 plumage to see that there are no spots on it. When in its wild 

 state it always flies and sits with its face to the wind, lest its 

 elegant filmy plumes should be disarranged. 



So far from living exclusively on dew, it eats no small 

 amount of insects, such as grasshoppers, which it will not touch 



Six-shafted Bird of Paradise 



