BIRDS OF PAEABISE. 
137 
wJioch, whoehj^^ soon attracted the visitor^s attention. He de- 
scribes it as having ^^a lights playful^ and graceful manner^ with 
an arch^ impudent look/^ appearing delighted to be noticed. 
During four months of the year this specimen moulted^ from 
May to August. In its ablutions it was most careful, wash- 
ing itself twice a day. Mr. Beale fed it on boiled rice mixed 
up with soft egg, together with plantains. It was very fond 
of grasshoppers, which, when thrown to it, it contrived to 
catch in its beak with great ease : this specimen refused to 
eat insects when dead. Gaily as this Bird of Paradise was 
dressed, even in confinement he did not allow his feathers 
to be soiled, but preened himself with the utmost care, in- 
specting every part of his plumage which was within reach. 
Wordsworth"^ has well expressed the character of the 
plumage in the Greater Bird of Paradise : — 
" So richly deck'd in variegated down, 
Green, sable, shining yellow, shadowy brown. 
Tints softly with each other blended, 
Hues doubtfully begun and ended ; 
Or intershooting, and to sight 
Lost and recover' d, as the rays of light 
Glance on the conscious plumes touch'd here and there. 
This the Sun's Bird, whom Glendoveers might own 
As no unworthy partner in their flight 
* Poems, chiefly of Early and Late Years, pp. 89, 90. 
