GORGET PARADISE-BlRD. 503 



appears to have been long before figured and 

 slightly described in the work of Seba, but with- 

 out any particular mention of the brilliant golden 

 gorget, which perhaps may be most conspicuous 

 in, or even peculiar to one sex, or may perhaps 

 be not very perceptible in the younger or less 

 advanced state of the bird. 



In the magnificent publication of Monsr. Viellofe 

 on the Paradise-Birds, &c. is given a large and 

 accurate representation of the present species, but 

 the throat, in the specimen described by Monsr. 

 Viellot, is not distinguished by the appearance of 

 the brilliant bar or crescent above-mentioned, but 

 shews a coppery lustre diffused over the whole 

 throat. In Monsr, Levaillant's most elegant work 

 the same species also occurs ; but with a circum- 

 stance which perhaps may admit of some question 

 as to its propriety: this consists in the lengthened 

 velvet-like plumes on each side the base of the bill 

 being so expressed as to project forwards on each 

 side into two lengthened concavities or shell- 

 shaped wings overshadowing as it were the beak: 

 this representation, I observe, has not escaped the„ 

 notice of Monsr, Viellot, who, in the work entitled 

 Dictionnalre d'Histoire NatureUe, has not scrupled 

 to accuse Monsr. Levaillant of outstepping in this 

 instance the modesty of Nature, reversing the real 

 state of the plumage of that part, and thus decor- 

 ating the bird with a feature of fictitious elegance. 



