po O^ClTHOLOgr. Book II. 



The species The lefler Butcher-birds therefore may be divided into thofethat have a black line 



Butcher-birds. * n botn cheeks paffing through the Eye, and thofe that want it. Thofe which have this 



' line may be fubdivided into thofe which have a white mark upon the fhoulders and 



thofe that have it not. The firft fort may be called, the Leffer Butcher-bird variegated 



with blacky and white femicircular litres: The fecond, The leffer red Butcher-bird .-The 



third, the lejfer afh-coloured Butcher-bird. 



jf ' Ch !a p. XII. 



Of the Bird of Taradife y or Manucodiata, in general. 



THat Birds of Paradife want feet is not only a popular perfuafion, but a thing 

 not long i fince believed by learned men and great Naturalifts, and among the 

 reft by Aldrovandus himfel£ deceived by the birds dried or their cafes,brought 

 over into Europe out of the Eaji Indies, difmembred, and bereaved of their Feet. 

 Yea, Aldrovandm and others do not (tick to charge Antonim Pigafeta, ( who gave 

 the firft notice of this Bird to the Europsans') with falfhood and lying, becaufe he de- 

 livered trie contrary.' This errour once admitted, the other fictions of idle brains, 

 which feemed thence to follow, did without difficulty obtain belief 5 vi%. that they 

 lived upon the coeleftial dew 5 that they flew perpetually without" awy intermiffion, 

 and took no reft but on high in the Air, their Wings* being fpread 5 that they were 

 never taken alive, but only when they fell down dead upon the ground: That there 

 is in the back of the Male a certain cavity, in which the Female, whofe belly is alfo 

 hollow, lays her Eggs, and (6 by the help of both cavities they are fitjtn upon and 

 hatched. All which things are now luffkiently refuted, and proved to be falfe and 

 fabulous, both by eye-witneffes, andjby the birds themfelves brought over entire. 



* In lik notes j mv fe\£ ( f a } tn * J oa nnes de Laet ) have two Birds ©f Paradife of different kinds, and 

 iib?5.capSt.' have feen many others, all which had feet, and thofe truly for the bulk of their bodies 



fufficiently great, and very ftrong Legs. The lame is confirmed by * Marggravius, 

 Clufius in bis Exotics, Wormius inhisM«/e//«z,page 295. and efpecially Bontius in the 

 fifth Book and twelfth Chapter of his natural and medic Hijicry q£,the Eajl-Indies, 

 where we have to this purpofe 3 It is fo far from being true that thefe%jrds of Paradife 

 are nourifiedby the Air, or want Feet, that with their crooked and very \fharp Claws they 

 catch final/ bird^s, as Green Linnets, Chaffinches, and the like, and prefently tear and 

 devour them like other birds of prey : No lefs untrue 4s it, that they are not found but only 

 dead,wherea6 they fit upon trees, andarefhot with Arrows by the Tarnacenfes 5 whence alfo, 

 *"b° k" d d°' ana ] fi om their Jwi ft * reciprocal flying, they are by the Indians ctfZfe^Tarnacenfian Swal- 

 and forwid. lows. We truly, before we had read thefe things in Bontius, had fubjoyned thefe 

 birds to the Rapacious kind, becaufe they did feem to us in their Bill and crooked 

 Claws very nearly torefemblethem, and confequently in all likelihood to prey upon 

 littlebirds. Hence alfo it appears how rafhly fome have believed, that they took their 



* Shafts of reft hanging by thofe two * cirri, which run out, as it were two long firings, beyond 

 feathers. the reft of the feathers, twined about the boughs of trees : For thofe Cirri are no- 



• thing elfe but the naked fhafts of feathers, having neither the ftructure nor ufe of 

 Mufcles. It were to be wifhed, that thofe who travel to thofe parts of the Eaji Indies, 

 where thefe Birds are found, would diligently enquire of the Inhabitants, where and 

 how they build : And what thofe long feathers ferve for, which fpringing in great 

 numbers from both fides of the breaft do both run out in length beyond the Tail, 

 and alfo are fpread out far in breadth 5 and efpecially What may be the ufe of thefe 



J two long naked fhafts of feathers before mentioned, which^ ( to fay the truth) is to 



L- us as yet unknown. 



Thefe moft beautiful birds (as Aldrovandus reports) are called by the inhabitants 

 of the Molucci Iffands Manucodjat*, that is, Gods birds, and.had in great efteem and 

 veneration. They are called Birds of Paradife, both for the excellent ftape and beau- 

 ty of their bodies, and alfo becaufe where they are bred, whence they come, and 

 whither they betake themfelves is altogether unknown, lith they are found only dead 

 upon the earth, fo that the Vulgar imagine them to drop out of Heaven or Paradife. 

 But this mift|ike we have before out of Bontius reef ified. 



Chap. 



