320 FOREIGN BIRDS. 



From the Papuan Isles in magnificence bright, 

 Came the Paradise Birds ( 5 ) at once lustrous and 

 light; 



eeus, (Lath.) Olive-Honey-Eater, or Olive-Creepei', is four 

 inches long; bill half an inch long, black; plumage above dull 

 olive-green, inclining to brown on the forehead and crown ; 

 beneath grey-brown ; around the eyes whitish ; quills and tail 

 brown, with an olive-green tinge ; the two outer feathers 

 white at the ends; legs pale brown. Inhabits Madagascar and 

 Java. Individuals found in the last-named place are olive, va- 

 riegated beneath with dull brown-grey ; outer tail feathers 

 white at the ends. 



Many others of this tribe of birds have been exhibited, by far 

 more splendid and smaller than these ; but I have at present no 

 means of obtaining an accurate description of them. 



( s ) Order, Pi cze, (Linn.) Birds of Paradise. 



The genus Paradisea, (Linn.) or Bird-of-Paradisk, 

 consists of twenty species ; the bill is coveied with a belt of 

 downy feathers at the base ; feathers of the sides very long ; 

 two of the tail feathers naked. They are inhabitants of New 

 Guinea, the Papuan Islands, or Islands of the Indian ocean. 

 The following are some of the most remarkable. The habits of 

 this tribe of birds do not, however, appear to be yet very ac- 

 curately known. 



The Apoda, or Greater-Paradise-Bird, is of a chesnut 

 colour ; neck beneath green gold ; feathers on the sides 

 longer than the body ; two middle tail feathers long, bristly. 

 Another variety of a smaller size. Inhabits the islands near 

 New Guinea ; feeds, it is said, on moths and butterflies ; 

 flies, it is also reported, in flocks, with a leader at the 

 head, making a noise like the thrush. The strangest and most 



