Heads and Necks 207 
some part of the head of a bird, such as the feather “horns”’ 
of owls, motmots, and larks. In Screech Owls these 
prominent “ears” certainly play a useful part in breaking 
up the outline of the bird, rendering it very difficult of 
detection when it 1s perched upon some jagged limb or 
stub. Or again, tufts or pencils of feathers may arise 
from near the ear, or over the eve; as shown by the Dem- 
oiselle Crane (Fig. 207), some of the Puffins, and the Man- 
churian Pheasants (Fig. 209). The Great Bustard has long 
tufts of chin-feathers which, like wide-spreading whiskers, 
spread to each side, and the Bearded Vulture has a simi- 
lar goatee of stiff, black bristles. 
Of the wonderful crests, frills, ruffs, breastplates, and 
cloaks of hummingbirds there is no room to speak, and 
indeed no words or pictures can aught but parody them. 
The eye alone can record their marvels, in the collection 
of a museum, or, better still, in the living birds, as the 
little creatures hover over their favourite flowers, or 
vibrate before us, fanning the air in our very faces with 
their invisible wings. 
Brief mention should be made of two Birds of Para- 
dise, those beautiful creatures inhabiting a region where 
the eye of man seldom sees them. 
The Six-shafted Bird of Paradise is found only in 
New Guinea. ‘The plumage appears at first sight black, 
but it glows in certain lights with bronze and deep pur- 
ple. The throat and breast are scaled with broad, flat 
feathers of an intense golden hue, changing to green and 
blue tints and certain lights. On the back of the head 
is a broad recurved band of feathers, whose brilliancy 
