8 The American Naturalist. [January, 
mates or may be guaged on their own merits, can claim high 
rank in the lists of beauty. Such are, to mention two or three 
only, the Great and Lesser birds of paradise. It is only in the 
dazzling présence of their lords that the charms of the females 
seem dim and unimportant. 
But little that is exact and trustworthy is known of the hab- 
its, modification and general life of birds of paradise. They 
keep to the tallest trees as a rule, with the exception of the 
little King-bird and the Magnificent, who favor bushes and 
small growths. Although not particularly suspicious they re- 
sent intrusion on their haunts, retiring out of sight quickly or 
screaming in vociferous tones their uneasiness. They do not, 
however, by any means reserve their discordant cries for occa- 
sions of alarm, but are indefatigable in uttering them at other 
times as well, yet a singularly sweet note heard now and then 
in the dense forest is accredited to one or another of the para- 
dise-birds. From the Magnificent for instance proceeds a 
squirrel-like chatter that may be imitated by sucking the back 
of the hand rapidly. Raggiana too is said to make a peculiar 
whistle as when a man calls his dog. 
At periods of mating these birds are nosiy and clamorous. 
It is then that the natives undertake their capture at the time 
when those remarkable courting-dances or displays are in pro- 
gress, wherein the male, oblivious to everything but the object 
of his desire, is thrown into a frenzy of passion, attitudinizes 
in every conceivable posture and spreads out all the glories of 
his splendid plumage. The silent deadly blow-gun is now 
brought into requisition with telling effect, bird after bird fall- 
ing in the interests of trade. As the Paradisea are by no means 
solitary, but, where they are met with at all, fond of associating 
together in small flocks, it can easily be perceived how large 
a supply is annually furnished to the exigencies of commerce. 
But this murder of the innocents, one may be glad to remem- 
ber, is after all limited to a few species, for, as it has already 
been intimated, the majority of the different varieties are never 
exported—natural obstacles, scarcity of numbers or lack of de- 
mand effectually preventing. 
