THE INCOMPARABLE BIRD OF PARADISE. 
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sions, and we killed the male and the female. This species would seem to be monogamous, or 
perhaps it is only separated into pairs at the period of laying. In the woods this bird has no 
brilliancy ; its fine-colored 
plumage is not discovered, 
and the tints of the female 
are dull. It loves to take its 
station on the teak-trees, 
whose ample foliage shelters 
it, and whose small fruit 
forms its nourishment. Its 
irides are brown, and the feet 
are of a delicate azure. The 
Papuans call it Saya.” 
The King Bird of Para- 
dise is as beautiful as it is 
rare. The whole upper parts 
of the body are rich chestnut 
with a wash of purple, and 
the under portions of the body 
are pure white. Across the 
chest is drawn a band of light 
golden -green, and fiom the incomparable bird op 
Sides and below the shoulders PARADISE.— Astrapia nigra. 
spring a series of feathers, 
disposed so as to form a plume, their color being 
dusky -brown tipped with vivid green. Prom the 
upper tail-coverts spring the very long and very 
slender shafts, which are bare, excepting at their 
extremities, when they suddenly expand into a light 
emerald-green web, which is curled as if it had been 
just coiled into a spiral form and then flattened. 
The green web only belongs to one side of the shaft. 
Another species of these wonderful birds is 
well represented in the accompanying illustration. 
This is the Incomparable Bird of Paradise, also 
an inhabitant of New Guinea. 
This bird is remarkable not only for the glorious 
iridescent splendor of its robes, but for the extraor- 
dinary development of its tail and the velvety crest 
on its head, which would render it a truly beautiful 
bird even were the plumage a sober black or brown. 
Indeed, on first seeing one of these birds, it is diffi- 
cult to believe that it is not altogether a “ made-up ” 
specimen, composed, like the many mermaids now 
in existence, of portions taken from different species 
and ingeniously put together. We are accustomed 
by our knowledge of the peacock to see a bird with 
a disproportionately long train, but in this case the 
true tail-feathers are developed both in length and width to such an extent that they hardly 
seem to have started from the little body to which they belong. 
The true position of this species has been much doubted by naturalists, some having con- 
sidered it to be analagous to the thrushes, and having accordingly placed it near those birds, 
while others have ranked it among the Paradise Birds, but have made it into a fresh genus. 
