150 



Zoological Society, 



by side, and watched their specific differences with great care and 

 attention. Mr. Thomas Sansom exhibited a proliferous specimen of 

 Polytrichum commune, in which a second stem was developed in the 

 place of the stalk bearing the fructification. 



ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



Feb. 11, 1840.— The Rev. J. Barlow in the Chair. 



Mr. G. T. Lay read the following account of the habits of a Bird 

 of Paradise, Paradisea apoda, Linn. : — 



" This bird has been in the possession of Mr. Beale upwards of 

 fourteen years, and seemed when I left China at the commencement 

 of the past year to be in full health and vigour. It is fed mainly 

 upon boiled rice, with a few grasshoppers, as meat with its vege- 

 tables. These it eats whole when small, but pulls off the legs and 

 wings when large. The tip of the abdomen, with the lower intes- 

 tine, are rejected, while the rest of the viscera are devoured as a sort 

 of choice morsel. It seizes the insect near its head with so firm a 

 gripe, that life is soon extinct, which answers the double purpose of 

 securing its prey and of shortening the dying throes of the poor vic- 

 tim. It is very careful to cleanse its bill after every such operation, 

 wiping it upon the perch, and shaking it with a peculiar jerk. I 

 have heard one remark that it is not a clean feeder, but this is true 

 only of the mode of eating, which is gross and eager, as the largeness 

 of the mouthful is incompatible with much grace or nicety in con- 

 veying the food to the place of its destination. 



" The voice is loud and sonorous when he calls in a rapid suc- 

 cession of notes. This is probably the strain in which he answers 

 his fellows in the wild state, and may be heard, from its clearness, a 

 great distance, where walls and dwellings do not interfere with the 

 pulsations. When you approach his cage he often treats you with 

 a ditty, which I have called in my memorandum ' the song of solici- 

 tation.' It is short, but very pleasing, and not a little curious, for 

 the notes are repeated in harmonic progression. 



" The Serenade of Beale s bird. 



a: 



" The first four notes are very exactly intonated, very clear, and 

 very sweet. The three last are repeated in a kind of caw, a very 

 high refinement of the voices of a daw or a crow, yet possessing a 

 striking resemblance. And this suggests a lively affinity between the 

 crows and the paradise birds. While this serenade is uttered, the 

 black pupil, encircled by a golden iris, waxes or wanes, as the crea- 

 ture wishes to contemplate more distant or nearer objects. The bill 

 snaps as the prelude of a meal and the token of appetite, while the 

 body is conveyed from side to side by the highest and most easy 

 springs. The crow and its congeners love to range upon the ground, 



