BIRDS OF PARADISE— THE BOWER-BIRD. 



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spring from the head, the back, or the shoulders ; while the intensity of color and 

 of metallic lustre displayed by their plumage is not to be equaled by any other birds, 

 except perhaps by the Humming-birds, and is not surpassed even by these." 



Of the eighteen species described by Mr. Wallace, perhaps the most remarkable is 

 the great Bird of Paradise [Paradisea apoda) which measures seventeen or eighteen 

 inches from the beak to the tip of the tail. The body, wings, and tail are brown, 

 deepening on the breast to purple. The head is yellow, the throat of emerald green. 

 From each side of the body, beneath the wings, springs a dense tuft of long delicate 

 plumes, sometimes two feet in length, of the most intense golden-orange color, very 

 glossy, but changing towards the tips into a pale brown. This tuft of plumage can 

 be elevated and spread out at pleasure, so as almost to conceal the body of the bird. 

 They moult in January and February ; and are in full plumage in May. At this 

 time the males assemble early in the morning to exhibit themselves in a singular man- 

 ner which the natives call their S^ccleli" or dancing-parties. The ball-room is a 

 huge tree, whose wide branches afford them abundant space for display. On one of 

 these trees a score of males will assemble, raise their wings, and keep them in constant 

 vibration ; flying now and then from branch to branch, so that the whole tree is alive 

 with their waving plumes. When at the utmost point of excitement, the wings are 

 raised over the head, the plumes expanded until they form two magnificent fans, over- 

 shadowing the whole body, while the yellow head and green throat form a foundation 

 and support for 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 of living things. 



This habit enables the natives of Aru to obtain specimens with more ease. As soon 

 as they find that the birds have fixed upon a tree on which to assemble, they build a 

 little shelter of palm-leaves in a convenient place among the branches, and the hunter 

 ensconces himself in it before daylight, 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 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. 



Another species, the Red Bird of Paradise, found in some parts of New Guinea, is 

 caught in a very ingenious manner. There is a large tree bearing a red fruit of which 

 these birds are especially fond. The hunters fasten this fruit on a stout forked stick, 

 and provide themselves with a fine strong cord. They then find out some tree in the 

 forest upon which these birds are accustomed to perch ; and climbing up it, fasten the 

 stick to a branch, and arrange the cord in a noose so ingeniously that when the bird 

 comes to eat, its legs are caught ; and by pulling the end of the cord, which hangs to 

 the ground, it comes down free from the branch, and brings down the bird. Some- 

 times when this favorite food is abundant elsewhere, the hunter sits from morning to 

 night under his tree, and often for two or three whole days in succession, without get- 

 ting even a bite ; while at other times, if very lucky, he may get two or three birds 

 a day. 



The ornithological wonders of Australia are inferior to those of no other part of the 

 world. Can anything, for instance, be more extraordinary than the constructions of 



