Marvels of the Universe 



525 



emerald and contrasting 



London Zoological Gardens, though my coloured illustration is chiefly based on examples of the 

 bird exhibited in Germany and Holland. 



The Blood-red Bird of Paradise comes from the Islands of Waigiu and Batanta and is note- 

 worthy for its \i\ad red side-plumes, the rest of the plumage being straw-yellow, intense beryl-green, 

 old-gold, warm sepia and pinkish-fawn, while the two (occasionally there are four) prolonged plumes 

 of the tail are like filaments of black steel. The Emperor William's Bird of Paradise is a lovely 

 creature. It comes from German New Guinea and is, of course, related to the Blood-red and the 

 Great Birds of Paradise. The side-plumes are of pure white and contrast exquisitely with the deep 

 chocolate-red of the underparts of the body, the intense emerald-green of the throat, and the glisten- 

 ing straw-colour of the upper neck and of the belt between throat and stomach. The Superb Bird of 

 Paradise, like the Lesser Superb Bird of Paradise, develops wonderful gorgets, breast shields and back- 

 shields of iridescent verditer-blue touched here and there with smalt or 

 with the intense brown-black 

 of the rest of the plumage. The 

 Standard-bearer Bird of Para- 

 dise has a curious combination 

 of colours. The greater part 

 of the plumage, the beak and 

 the legs are a pale fawn-brown 

 fading to an ecru-white in the 

 eccentric wing-feathers, which 

 rise up hke standards in the 

 male bird. The crown of the 

 head is a pale hlac, and — most 

 striking of all — the gorget is 

 of the most intense emerald- 

 green in some hghts, changing 

 in other aspects to a vivid 

 blue. The sides of the stomach 

 are also tinted with emerald. 

 The various species of Diphyl- 

 lodes Paradise Birds are not 

 large in size but are extra- 

 ordinarily vivid in colouring, 

 and are remarkable for the 

 large shield of feathers grow- 

 ing up on the nape of the 

 neck, and usually of a glisten- 

 ing gold or straw-white, the 

 surface of which glitters as 

 though it were made of the 

 precious metal. Two large, 

 curled plumes grow out of the 

 central tail-feathers, and the 

 tints of these birds are a mix- 

 ture of gold or straw-white 

 with equally glistening chest- 

 nut-red, black, orange, beryl- 

 K'reen and steel-blue. 



Pholo bij permLxsion ofj [.S/r //. H. Johuslon, U.C.M.G. 



THE ASTRAPIA. OR "PARADISE PIE." 



This belongs 10 a group of long-lailed Birds of Paradise. The Astrapias, of 

 which there are several species, have the plumage of the males Rearing black, with 

 iridescent lights. These are so bright that they appear (except when seen in shadow) 

 to be vivid green, gold, purple and copper, the tail especially being an intense 

 purple. The feathers round the head and neck are erected, with a velvet frill. 



