550 



THE BIRDS OF PJJIJD!SK 



[CE. XXXVtlh 



lutely nothing was known about tlit!iii. And ev^en now, 

 a hundred years later, most books state that tliey uiigmte 

 annually to Temate, Banda, and Amboyna ; whereas the 

 fact is, that they are as completely iiiikuown in those 

 islands in a wild state as they are in England. Linnfeua 

 was al-^o acquainted with a small species, which he named 

 I'amdisea regia (the King Bird of Paradise), and since 

 then nine or ten others have been named, all of %\'hich 

 were first described fi-om skins preserved by the savages of 

 New Guinpa, and generally more or less iraperlect. These 

 are now all known in the ilalay Archipelago as '*Bnrong 

 niati," or dead birds, indicating that the Malay traders 

 never saw them alive. 



The Pai"adi9eid:e are a group of moderate-sized birds, 

 alhed in their structure and habits to crows, starlings, and 

 to the Australian honcysuukers ; but they are characterised 

 by extraordinary developments of plumage, which are 

 unequalied in any other family of biixls. lu several 

 species large tufts of delicate bright-coloured feathers 

 spring from each side of the body beneath the wings, 

 forming trains, or fans, or sluelds ; and the middle feathers 

 of the tail are often elongated into wires, twisted into fan- 

 tfistic shapes, or adorned with the most brilliant metallic 

 tintjs. In another sei of species these accessory plumes 

 spring from the head, the back, or the shoulders; while 

 the intensity of colour and of metallic lustre displjiycd 

 by their plumage, is not to be equalled by any other birds, 

 except, perhaps, the liumming-birds, and is not surpassed 

 even by these. They have been usually classified under 

 two distinct families, Puradiseidie and EpimachidiE, the 

 latter characterised by long and slender beaks, and sup- 

 posed to be allied to the Hoopoes ; but the two grou|>s 

 are so closely allied in every essential point of structure 

 and habits, that I shall consider them as forming sub- 

 divisions of one family. 1 will now give a short descrip- 

 tion of each of tlie known species, and then add some 

 general remarks on their natural history. 



The Great Bird of Paradise (Paradisea apoda of Ltn- 

 nsBus) is the largest species known, being generally 

 seventeen or eighteen inches from the beak to the tip of 



