STRANGE BIRDS AND THEIR WAYS. 247 



throbbed and palpitated as if an electric sympathy were 

 emitted from the fine points of their wings. There was 

 nothing tumbling or gay in their impression, but an intense 

 feeling of languid life. Their curves and movements were 

 voluptuous. The southern sun flashed not in vain along 

 their snowiness, nor were they without meaning flying to 

 the south. There was no sound but the whirring of innu- 

 merable wings, as they passed high over our heads, a living 

 cloud between us and the sun. Now it was a streaming 

 whiteness in the blue, now it was as mellowly dark, as they 

 turned to or from the sun, and so advanced, the long lines 

 giving and trembling sometimes, like a flapping sail in a 

 falling breeze, then bellying roundly out again as if the 

 wind had risen. 



8. " When they were directly above us, one only note 

 was dropped from some thoughtful flamingo, to call atten- 

 tion to the presence of strangers below. But beyond mus- 

 ket-shot, even if not beyond fear, as they undoubtedly 

 were, the fair company swept on unheeding, a beautiful 

 boon for the south, and laden with what strange tidings 

 from northern woods ! The bodies were rosy white and 

 the wings black, and the character of the flight imparted an 

 air of delicacy and grace to all their movements and associ- 

 ation ; but the pageant soon passed, and the whirr of beau- 

 tiful wings, and the rose-cloud of flamingoes died away 

 deep in the south." 



BIRDS-OF-PARADISE. 



1. The birds-of-paradise are a small but renowned fam- 

 ily. They received their name from the idea, entertained 

 at one time, that they inhabited the region of the Mosaic 

 paradise. They live in a small locality in Australasia, in- 

 cluding Papua or New Guinea, and a few adjacent islands. 



