THE GREAT PARADISE-BIRD. 
247 
paradise-bird, the largest of the family, measuring as much as seven- 
teen inches from the bill to the tip of the tail. A rich chocolate-brown 
" pervades " body, wings, and tail ; while the breast is touched with 
shades of purple and violet, merging into black and brown. A soft, 
delicate straw-yellow spreads over the neck and the whole top of the 
head, where the feathers are close-set and very short. The feathers on 
the lower part of the throat are scaly, with a rich emerald-green colour, 
and a fine metallic lustre ; while velvety plumes of a deeper green 
stretch across the chin and forehead as far as the eye, which is of a 
bright yellow ; a pale lead blue, the beak ; and a pale ashy pink, the 
large, strong, and well-shaped feet. The two middle tail-feathers are 
without any web, except a very small one at the base and at the tip, 
forming wire-like cirrhi, which expand in a graceful double curve, 
and vary from twenty-four to thirty-four inches in length. Beneath 
the wing, on either side of the body, springs a dense tuft of long 
delicate plumes, about two feet in length, very glossy, and of the 
richest golden -orange colour imaginable — except towards the tips, 
which are of a pale brown. As in the case of the king bird, this 
plumy tuft the bird can raise and spread out at pleasure, so as nearly 
to conceal his body. 
We borrow from Mr. Wallace the following additional partic- 
ulars : — • 
" The great bird is very active and vigorous, and seems to be in 
constant motion all day long. It is very abundant, small flocks of 
females and young males being constantly met with ; and though the 
full-plumaged birds are less plentiful, their loud cries, which are heard 
daily, show that they also are very numerous. Their note is ' Wauk, 
wauk, wauk ' wok, wok, wok ' ' and so loud and shrill is it as to be 
audible at a great distance, forming the most prominent and character- 
istic animal sound in the Aru Islands. The mode of nidification is 
unknown ; but, according to the natives, the nest is constructed of 
leaves placed on an ant's nest, or on some projecting limb of a very 
lofty tree, and is believed to contain only one young bird. The egg is 
quite unknown, and appears to have been seen by no one. The birds 
moult about January or February ; and in May, when they are fully 
