CLASS II. AYES: ORDER 2. PASSERES. 
206 
Genus ASTRAPIA : Astrapia^ includes the Pie of Paradise, or Incomparable of the French, 
A. gularis^ a rare species of Ncav Guinea. An idea of its form may be gathered from the pre- 
ceding engraving, but no conception of the brilliancy of its metallic tints, and the varying play 
of the light upon the plumage, can be afforded by description. 
THE SUPERB BIRD OP PARADISE. THE EMERALD BIRD OF PARADISE. 
PARADISEIDiE OR BIRDS OF PARADISE. 
This group, which, notwithstanding their brilliancy and the renown which clusters around 
them, are nearly allied to the Corvidaj, belonging to New Guinea and the adjacent islands : here 
they live in troops in the dense forests, one male surrounded by some fifteen females. The Gkeat 
Emerald Bird op Paradise, Paradisea apoda^ is remarkable for the large bunches of de- 
composed plumes which issue from the body, and float gracefully in the air, and which are so 
much coveted by the ladies of Europe and America as ornaments for head-dresses. In the 
Superb Bird of Paradise, P. supeo-ha, the feathers rise in wing-like tufts upon the back and 
neck, giving it an aspect of gorgeous beauty and brilliancy. There are several other species, 
some of them plain, but the greater part distinguished by these tufts of light, rich, floating plumes. 
It is to be understood, however, that these ornaments belong exclusively to the males. Formerly 
these birds were said to live wholly in the air, and hence there was the interest of the marvel- 
ous added to that of their surpassing beauty. They are now known to live and nestle in the 
forests, and to feed on fruits and seeds. The feathers are not only valued in commerce, but they 
are used as decorations of the turbans of the chiefs of the islands where they are found 
THE BUCERID^ OR HORNBILLS. 
The Hornbills are mostly of tolerably large size, some of them being of the stature of a smai. 
turkey. Their general color is usually a greenish metallic-black, with the tail-coverts and the tail 
white, or of some other light color ; the tail generally has a black transverse band near the ex- 
tremity. They are inhabitants of the hottest parts of the Old World, and especially of the islands 
of the Eastern Archipelago and Africa. Their food consists of fruits, and according to some 
naturalists, also of carrion and small animals, the latter of which they are said to squeeze to death 
in their enormous bills, and then, throwing them up in the air, catch them and swallow them 
whole. Lesson states that the African species live on carrion, and those of the East Indies on 
