DANCING PARTIES. 255 



many sorts there may be which have so far 

 eluded the few and short visits of naturalists, 

 no one is able to tell. Even of those we have, 

 how scantj^ is our knowledge ! What they eat 

 we are told; how they bathe and dress their 

 plumage ; their loud calls and unmusical voices ; 

 the shyness of those whose conspicuous beauty 

 sets a price upon their heads, and their " danc- 

 ing parties," so graphically described by Wal- 

 lace ; but of their nesting we are in profound 

 ignorance. Where the gravely dressed part- 

 ners of the brilliant creatures set up the hearth- 

 stone none can tell, unless it be the mop-headed 

 Papuan, and he will not. 



The colors lavished on the plumage would 

 alone make the Birds of Paradise the wonder 

 of the world; exquisite tints not surpassed by 

 the humming-birds themselves, and of almost 

 infinite variety, from the richest velvety purple 

 to the gorgeous metallic greens, blues, and yel- 

 lows, changing with every motion, and glitter- 

 ing in the sun like gem^. But the marvelous 

 freaks in the arrangement of the plumage are 

 more specially interesting. So extraordinary 

 a variety of forms, so unique and fantastic in 

 disposal, are without parallel in the animal 

 world. Some species are adorned with long, 

 drooping tufts of plumes light as air, as the 

 Red Bird of Paradise, and others bear strange- 



