520 



Marvels of the Universe 



these, probabl_v in the large 

 island of New Guinea, there 

 arose, in recent times, the 

 wonderful Paradise Birds and 

 Bower Birds, which are re- 

 stricted in their range to New 

 Guinea and the adjacent islands 

 on the west and to the northern- 

 most portions of the Australian 

 continent (where they are 

 known as "Rifle Birds" as 

 well as Bower Birds). The 

 distinction between Birds of 

 Paradise and Bower Birds is 

 not a very great one as regards 

 structure, but the Bower Birds 

 have developed extraordinary 

 features in regard to courtshi]i 

 — features which, lio\ve\-er, are 

 discernible here and there 

 amongst the true Paradise 

 Birds. The male of the Bower 

 Bird (and of certain Paradise 

 Birds) not only prepares a 

 piece of gro\md on which he 

 niav dance and display his 

 feathers before the female, but 

 also erects " bowers," or tun- 

 nels, of twigs, either in con- 

 nection with the nesting-place 

 or separately from it. This 

 characteristic has already been 

 dealt with in this work (see 

 page 105). Some gorgeous 

 Paradise Birds are really 

 Bower Birds, such as, for 

 example, the Golden Bird of Paradise of New Guinea, which is a blaze of gold and orange, with 

 black face, quills, and tail ; or Macgregor's Bird of Paradise of the Owen Stanley Mountains, which, 

 in addition to its golden-yellow and black plumage, is remarkable for a crest of three quaint golden 

 plumes ; or the yellow-crested species of Dutch New Guinea — a brown Bower Bird with enormous 

 horizontal orange-coloured crest to its head. The true Paradise Birds also prepare dancing-grounds 

 on which the male may perform many strange antics and exhibit his plumage in such a wa}' as to 

 show off its eccentric developments or its gorgeous colours. But a number of species rarely 

 frequent the ground, and give their displays on bare branches of trees or on the smooth lianas 

 which, in the dense forests of New Guinea, stretch like ropes from tree to tree. 



In the semi-mythical accounts of Paradise Birds which were extant in Europe down to the 

 beginning of the nineteenth century, it was stated that not only had these birds no legs, and. there- 

 fore, could never perch, but that they spent the whole of their time floating about in the air, the 

 female laying and incubating her eggs in a hollow on the back of the male. Occasionally they 



[.Sir //. a. Johnston, G.C.M.G. 

 BIRD OF P.^RADISE. 



fholo 61/] 



THE EMPEROR X^ILLIAM'S 



TKis rare and delicately beautiful form comes from German New Guinea. The 

 side feathers of the male are pure white, the rest of the plumage being chocolate- 

 brown, stra^v-yeilow and deep beryl-green. 



