PARADISEA APODA. 



armed with his bow and a number of arrows terminating in a round knob. A boy waits at the foot of the 

 tree ; and when the birds come at sunrise, and a sufficient number have assembled and have begun to dance, the 

 hunter shoots with his blunt arrow so strongly as to stun the bird, which drops down, and is secured and killed 

 by the boy without its plumage being injured by a drop of blood. The rest take no notice, and fall one after 

 another till some of them take the alarm. The native mode of preserving them is to cut off the wings and feet, 

 and then skin the body up to the beak, taking out the skull. A stout stick is then run up through the specimen, 

 coming out at the mouth. Round this some leaves are stuffed; and the whole is wrapped up in a pahn spathe, 

 and dried in the smoky hut. By this plan the head, which is really large, is shrunk up almost to nothing, the 

 body is much reduced and shortened, and the greatest prominence is given to the flowing plumage. Some of these 

 native skins are very clean, and often have wings and feet left on ; others are dreadfully stained with smoke ; and all 

 give a most erroneous idea of the proportions of the hving bird. The Paradisea apoda, as far as we have any 

 certain knowledge, is confined to the mainland of the Aru Islands, never being found in the smaller islands 

 which surround the central mass. It is certainly not found in any of the parts of New Guinea visited by the 

 Malay and Bugis traders, nor in any of the other islands where Birds of Paradise are obtained. But this is by no 

 means conclusive evidence ; for it is only in certain localities that the natives prepare skins, and in other places the 

 same birds may be abundant without ever becoming known. It is therefore quite possible that this species may 

 inhabit the great southern mass of New Guinea, from which Aru has been separated ; while its near ally, P. papuana, 

 is confined to the north-western peninsula." 



The habits referred to above by Mr. Wallace are thus described by him on page 151 of the same work : he was 

 residing on the Aru Islands, where he had gone to procure these birds. " I had, however, some consolation in the 

 birds my boys brought home daily, more especially in the Paradiseas, which they at length obtained in full plumage. 

 It was quite a relief to my mind to get these ; for I could hardly have torn myself away from Aru had I not 

 obtained specimens. But what I valued almost as much as the birds themselves was the knowledge of their habits, 

 which I was daily obtaining, both from the accounts of my hunters and from the conversation of the natives. The 

 birds had now commenced what the people here call 'sacaleli,' or dancing-parties, in certain trees in the forest, 

 which are not fruit-trees, as I at first imagined, but which have an immense head of spreading branches and large 

 but scattered leaves, giving a clear space for the birds to play and exhibit their plumes. On one of these trees a 

 dozen or twenty fuU-plumaged male birds assemble together, raise up their wings, stretch out their necks, and elevate 

 their exquisite plumes, keeping them in a continual vibration. Between whiles they fly across from branch to branch 

 in great excitement, " so that the whole tree is filled with waving plumes in every variety of attitude and motion. 

 The bird itself is nearly as large as a crow, and is of a rich coffee-brown colour. The head and neck is of a pure 

 straw-yellow above, and rich metallic green beneath. The long plumy tufts of golden-orange feathers spring from the 

 sides beneath each wing, and when the bird is in repose are partially concealed by them. At the time of its 

 excitement, however, the wings are raised verticaUy over the back, the head is bent down and stretched out, and 

 the long plumes are raised up and expanded till they form magnificent golden fans, striped with deep red at the 

 base, and fading off into the pale brown tint of the finely divided and softly waving points. The whole bird is then 

 overshadowed by them, the crouching body, yellow head, and emerald-green throat forming but the foundation and 

 the setting to the golden glory which waves above. When seen in this attitude, the Bird of Paradise really deserves 

 its name, and must be ranked as one of the most beautiful and most wonderful of hving things." 



In the 'Annals and Magazine of Natural History' for 1857, the same author states, in a paper published on 

 this species, that "on examining a freshly killed bird we see the great muscular strength of the legs and wings, 

 and find the skin to be remarkably thick and tough, and the skull as well as the bones very hard and strong. 

 The whole neck is fined with a thick, muscular fat, exactly similar to that of the Cephalopterus ornatus, in the 

 same position, and probably serving in both cases to nourish the highly developed plumage of the adjacent parts. 

 This causes the throat externally to appear very wide, and as if swollen, which displays to great advantage the 

 dense, scaly, metallic plumage. The flesh, as might be expected, is dry, tasteless, and very tough — to be eaten 

 only in necessity. By far the greater number of the birds I have opened have had their stomachs full of fruit • 

 and this seems to be their usual and favourite food. At times, however, they seek after insects, principally 

 Orthoptera; and I have found one of the largest of the Phasmidae almost entire in the stomach of a full-plumaged 

 bird. It is only for two or three months of the year, during the height of the east monsoon, that the natives 

 obtain them ; and this circumstance has no doubt led to the statement that they are migratory in Aru, arriving 



from New Guinea at the end of the west, and returning there again at the end of the east monsoon which 



is quite incorrect, as they are permanent residents in Aru, and the natives know nothing about their being found 

 in New Guinea. About April, when the change from the west to the east monsoon occurs, the Paradiseas begin 



