PARADISEA APODA, Linn. 
Great Bird of Paradise. 
The Greater Bird of Paradise, Edwards, Birds, iii. p. 110, pi. 110 (1750). — Lath. Gen. Syn. ii. p. 471 (1782). 
L’ Oiseau de Paradis, Briss. Orn. ii. p. 130, pi. xiii. fig. 1 (1760). — Month. Hist. Nat. Ois. iii. p. 182. 
Paradisea apoda, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 165 (1766). — Penn. Faun. Ind. p. 40 (1781). — Gm. Syst. Nat. i. p. 399 
(1788).— Lath. Ind. Orn. i. p. 194 (1790).— Baud. Orn. ii. p. 270 (1800).— Cuvier, Regne Anim. i. p. 403 
(1817, pt.).— Vieill. N. Diet. d’Hist. Nat. xxx. p. 110 (1819).— Temm. Man. d’Orn. p. lv (1820).— 
Ranz. Element. Zool. iii. pt. iv. p. 60 (1822).— Wagler, Syst. Av., Paradisea, sp. 1 (1827).— Cuvier, 
Regne Anim. i. p. 426 (1829).— Gray, Gen. B. ii. p. 322 (1847).— Bp. Consp. i. p. 412 (1850).— Cab. 
Mus. Hein. Th. i. p. 213 (1851).— Wall. Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. (2), xx. pp. 411, 476 (1857).— Sclater, 
Journ. Proc. Linn. Soc. ii. p. 162 (1858).— Gray, P. Z. S. 1858, p. 193.— Id. Cat. B. New Guinea, 
pp. 35, 58 (1859).— Wall. Ibis, 1859, p. Ill— Gray, P. Z. S. 1859, p. 157.— Id. P. Z.S. 1861, p. 436.— 
Wall. Ibis, 1861, p. 289 — Schl. J. f. O. 1861, p. 384.— Wall. P. Z. S. 1862, pp. 153, 154, 160, 161.— 
Rosenb. Nat. Tijdschr. Nederl. Ind. xxv. p. 242 (1863).— Id. J. f. O. 1864, p. 126— Finsch, Neu-Guinea, 
p. 173 (1865).— Schl. Nederl. Tijdschr. Dierk. iii. p. 342 (1866).— Rosenb. Nat. Tijdschr. Nederl. Ind. 
xxix. p. 137 (1867). — Id. Reis naar de Zuidoostereil. p. 41 (1867). — Schl. Mas. Pays-Bas, Coraces* 
p. 79 (1867).— Wall. Malay Arch. ii. p. 390 (1869).— Gray, Hand-1. B. ii, p. 16, no. 6247 (1870).— 
Elliot, Monogr. Paradiseidte, pi. 2 (1873). — Brehm, J. f. 0. 1875, p. 453. — Salvad. Ann. Mus. Civ. Genov, 
ix. p. 191 (1876).— Sharpe, Cat. B. Brit. Mus. iii. p. 166 (1877).— Beccari, Ann. Mus. Civ. Genov, ix, 
pp. 393-396 (1877).— Salvad. P. Z. S. 1878, p. 98.— Gould, B. New Guinea, i. pi. 30 (1879).— Rosenb. 
Malay. Arch. p. 366 (1879).— D’Albert. Nuova Guinea, pp. 116, 121, 133 (1880).— Eudes-Deslongch. 
Ann. Mus. d’Hist. Nat. Caen, i. p. 20 (1880).— Salvad. Orn. Papuasia, ii. p. 594 (1881).— Id. Rep. Voy. 
H.M.S. £ Challenger,’ Birds, p. 81 (1881).— Cory, Beautiful and Curious Birds, pi. 18 (1883).— 
Musschenbr. Dagboek, pp. 176, 219 (1883).— Meyer, Zeitschr. ges. Orn. i. p. 293, taf. 17. fig. 2 (1884).— 
Rosenb. MT. orn. Ver. Wien, 1885, p. 17 (pt.).— Guillem. P. Z. S. 1885, p. 652 — D’Hamonv. Bull. Soc. 
Zool. France, 1886, p. 509 — Bartlett, P. Z. S. 1887, p. 392.— Salvad. Agg. Orn. Papuasia, ii. p. 159 (1890). 
V Oiseau de Paradis des Moluques, Daubent. PI. Enl. iii. p. 254. 
Great Bird of Paradise from, Aroo, Forrest, Voy. New Guinea, p. 135 (1780, teste Salvadori). 
Paradisea major aruana, Forster, Zool. Ind. p. 31 (1781). 
L’ Emeraude, Audeb. et Vieill. Ois. Dor. ii. p. 9, pi. 1 (1802). 
Le Grand Oiseau de Paradis Emeraude, Levaill. H. N. Ois. de Parad. i. pis. 1 & 3 (1806, nec pi. 2 = P. minor). 
Paradisea major, Shaw, Gen. Zool. vii. p. 480, pi. 58 (1809). Less. Traite, p. 336 (1831). Id. Ois. de Paradis, 
Syn. p. 6.— Id. Hist. Nat. p. 155, pi. 6 (1835, nec descr. ? ).— Id. Compl. Buff. p. 458 (1838, nec 
descr. ? ). 
Paradisea smaragdina, Dumont, Diet. Sci. Nat. xxxvii. p. 501 (1825). 
Paradisea apoda, var. wallaciana, Gray, P. Z. S. 1858, pp. 181, 193. — Id. Cat. B. New Guinea, pp. 35, 58 (1859). 
Id. P. Z. S. 1859, p. 158.— Rosenb. Reis naar de Zuidoostereil. p. 45 (1867). 
Great Bird of Paradise, Wall. Malay Arch. ii. p. 252, cum fig. (1869). 
As dulv recorded by Count Salvadori, who has written an excellent monographic account of this species, it 
enjoys a somewhat notable history. It is the original “Bird of Paradise,” the bird without any feet (hence 
the name apoda of Linnaeus), which flew about continuously and never slept, unless when resting for a few 
moments suspended by the long wire-like appendages to the central tad-feathers. In a cavity in the back 
of the male the female laid her eggs, and by a convenient depression in the breast of the hen bird the latter 
was enabled to sit and hatch out her offspring, and further myths ennobled the reproduction of the Birds 
of “Paradise.” 
It is sad to have to dispel these fanciful illusions, which arose from a very simple cause. The earliest skins 
of this magnificent bird reached Europe in the usual rough way in which the natives prepared them, generally 
without feet, sometimes too without wings, and only one traveller, Antonio Pigafetta, seems to have stated 
that the species really possessed feet like any other bird, as recorded by Aldrovandus. This record, 
nevertheless, did not prevent Linnseus from applying the name apoda, or “footless,” bird to the species. It 
was even said to migrate from the Aru Islands to New Guinea and back. 
The first traveller who gave an account of the species as it really exists was undoubtedly Dr. A. R. Wallace, 
from whose work on the ‘ Malay Archipelago ’ the following extracts have been taken 
“ When the earliest European voyagers reached the Moluccas in search of cloves and nutmegs, which were 
then rare and precious spices, they were presented with the dried skins of birds so strange and beautiful as 
to excite the admiration even of those wealth-seeking rovers. The Malay traders gave them the name of 
* Manuk dewatee ’ (or God’s birds) ; and the Portuguese, finding that they had no feet or wings, and not being 
