ORNITHOLOGY. 



The quil-feathers are of a bright orange brown underneath j 

 ihe tail darker and more inclining to brown. From the 

 upper part of the rump over the middle of the tail, extend 

 two very long naked shafts, divaricating as they extend, 

 each terminating in a beautiful circular web; the legs are 

 strongly formed and of a pale brown colour. This species 

 is called the King Bird, by the Dutch; it is said not to 

 associate much with the others, but to be of a solitary nature, 

 feeding upon berrfes, particularly of the red kind, seldom 

 or ever settling upon lofty trees, but frequenting shrubs and 

 bushes. It is considered as a very rare bird, and is said 

 to breed in Papua, and to emigrate thence into the small 

 Island of Arua, or Aroo, during the dry Monsoons, 



In contemplating the splendid varieties of the Birds of 

 Paradise, their costly and magnificent decorations, which 

 at the same time are attended by no evident utility that we 

 can perceive to themselves, as natural creatures, or even 

 man himself, we are led to conclude that the uses of many 

 of them will perhaps remain for ever concealed. But con- 

 sidered as objects adorned externally with a small portion 

 of their Creator's glory, and with inexpressible beauty, they 

 may serve to shew forth to the imitative powers of man, a 

 pleasing and powerful instance of the forcible effect of 

 opposite colours and combinations. By such means and 

 studies, the ornamental arts of painting and design will 

 become gradually enlarged and improved ; the painter, the 

 sculptor, or the embroiderer, may hence adopt a variety of 

 inventions till now unknown, and add delight to the inno- 

 cent pleasures and rational existence of man. 



The number of the species of these tribes of birds at 

 present known in the East Indies, is about seventy or eighty; 

 and the European bird which seems to have the nearest 



