GOLD-BREASTED BIRD OF 
PARADISE. 
IHIS beautiful and curious bird is the Para- 
disea Aurea of Gmelin ; the Sifilet, or Ma- 
nucode with Six Filaments, of BufFon; the 
Golden-Throated Bird of Paradise of Sonnerat ; 
and the Gold-Breasted Bird of Paradise, of 
most other nataralists. It appears to be pecu- 
liarly scarce; even Sonnerat saw not the bird 
alive, and BufFon acknowledges his descrip- 
tion to have been taken from a mutilated sub- 
je6l without either feet or wings. 
We learn from Sonnerat, to whom w-e owe 
both our figure and description, that this bird, 
which is'nearly the size of the common Dove, 
has a beautiful tuft of feathers springing from 
the upper mandible, blaclc at the base, and 
the rest black and white intermixed. Tlie 
upper part of the head, tlie checks, andbegiu'- 
ning of the throat, are of a fine black, shaded 
with violet. Behind tlie head, there is a gold- 
coloured band, similar to the plumage, of tlie 
neck a,nd breast; which is composed of long 
narrow 
