BIRDS OF PARADISE. 
119 
SO that the wings are not of that form which is best 
adapted for turning readily in the air, although they 
are capable of sustaining a protracted flight. 
The Paradise Birds {^ParadiseancB) are those which 
exhibit the greatest affinity to the tenuirostral tribe, 
or suctorial birds. These are very peculiar birds, con- 
fined to a peculiar situation on the globe, whose cli- 
mate, seasons, and the greater part of its natural 
productions are also peculiar, and not to be met with 
in any other part of the world. 
The exceeding elegance and richness of the plumes 
of these birds not only procured for them names indica- 
tive of superior attractions, but gave them a notoriety 
which caused them to be sought after by the chiefs 
and nobles of all lands, and they have long been a 
source of profitable trade to those who have been 
fortunate enough to procure them. The extraordinary 
fiction with which the craft of the inhabitants of the 
Eastern countries where they are found deluded the 
ignorant, rendered them still more objects of curiosity 
and desire. The natives were in the habit of carefully 
removing the legs from the skins ere they produced 
them for sale, and they were stated to pass their 
whole existence in the air, where all the functions of 
life were carried on. 
“ The golden birds, that ever sail the skies, 
Here to the sun display their shining dyes ; 
Each want supplied on air they ever soar ; 
The ground they touch not till they breathe no more.” * 
The dew and the vapours were said to be their only 
food. The brilliant lustre of their plumage, the rich 
* Camoens. 
