on xsxnnO mi? RF.D AND KING BIRDS, 557 



or less in every family of birds, and are easily produced in 

 many domesticated varieties, while unusual developments 

 of the feathers of the hody are rare in the whole class of 

 birds, and have seldom or never occun'cd iu domesticated 

 species. Tn accordance with these facts, we find the scale- 

 formed pliinn^s of the throat, the crests of the head, and 

 the long cirrhi of the tail, all fully developed before the 

 plumes wliiih spring from the side of the body begin to 

 make their appeaniuce. If, on the other hand, the male 

 Paradise Birds have not ac{]uired their distinctive plumage 

 by successi^'^e variations, but have been as they are now 

 from the moment they first appeared upon the earth, this 

 iuecession becomes at the least unintelligible to us, for we 

 ean see no reason why the changes should not tuke place 

 aiTimltaneously, or in a reverse order to that in wliich they 

 actually occur. 



What is known of the habits of this bird, aiul the way 

 in which it is captured by the natives, have akeady been 

 described at page 534 



The Retl Bird of Paradise offers a retnarkable case of 

 restricted nuige, being entirely confined to the small island 

 of Waigiou, off the north-west extremity of New Guinea, 

 where it replaces the allied species found in the other 

 islands. 



The three birds just descrilied form a well-marked 

 group, agreeing in every point of general structure, in their 

 comparatively large size, the brown colour of their bodies, 

 wings, and tail, and in the peculiar character of the onia- 

 mental plumage which distinguishes the male bird. The 

 group ranges nearly over the whole area iuluibited by the 

 family of the Paradiseidre, but each of the species lias its 

 own limited region, and is never found in the same district 

 with either of its close allies. To these three birds pro- 

 perly belongs the generic title Paradisea, or true Paradise 

 Bird. 



ITie next species is the Paradisea regia of Linnffius, or 

 Kuig Bird of Paradise, wliich diflers so mucli from the 

 three preceding species aa to deserve a ilistinct generic 

 name, and it has accordingly been called Cicinnnrus regius. 

 By the Malays it is called " Burong nijah," or Kin^^ Bird, 

 irnd by the natives of the Am Islands " Goby-goby. * 



