250 NATURAL HISTORY READER. 



the shoulders, are of a light, golden yellow. The eye is at 

 the common point between these colors. 



6. If lines were drawn from it to the throat, to the 

 forehead, and down the sides of the neck, and carved to a 

 point on the breast, they would indicate very well the lim- 

 its of the colors. The back, wings, tail, and belly are of a 

 bright, reddish chestnut, the breast being a little darker, 

 and inclining to purple. From each side beneath the 

 wings proceed a large number of long, floating, graceful 

 j)lumes, some eighteen inches in length, of exceeding deli- 

 cacy of texture and apjoearance. These extend far beyond 

 the tail-feathers, which are about six inches long, and 

 their translucent golden-white vanclets produce a most su- 

 perb effect, as they cross and recross each other, forming 

 every imaginable shade of white, gold, and orange, and 

 then deepening toward their extremities into a soft, pur- 

 plish red. From the upper part of the tail proceed two 

 black shafts or filaments, some eighteen inches long, ap- 

 pearing like small wires, about one sixteenth of an inch in 

 diameter. 



7. They are not easily tamed and kept confined, and 

 few have been brought alive from their native locality. 

 Mr. Beale had one at Macao, China, which had been in 

 captivity nine years. In a description of this bird the 

 writer says: "This elegant creature has a light, playful, 

 and graceful manner, with an arch and impudent look ; 

 dances about when a visitor approaches the cage, and seems 

 delighted at being made an object of admiration. Its notes 

 are very peculiar, resembling the cawing of a raven, but 

 its tones are far more varied. It washes itself regularly 

 twice daily, and, after having performed its ablutions, 

 throws its delicate feathers up nearly over its head, the 

 quills of which feathers have a peculiar structure so as to 

 enable the bird to effect this object. 



8. "Its food, during confinement, is boiled rice, mixed 



