PARADISEIDjE. 
350 Passeees. BIRDS. 
tlie most remarkable character of the birds of this 
family consists in the great development in the males 
of some portions of the plumage, usually the feathers 
of the sides of the body and neck, which often present 
the most singular forms and give the birds a very pecu- 
liar appearance. In most cases they are adorned with 
brilliant and delicate colours, and some of them consti- 
tute well-known and elegant ornaments of ladies’ dress. 
The Birds of Paradise are confined to a very limited 
portion of the earth’s surface, namely. New Guinea 
and the neighbouring islands. Amongst the luxuriant 
forests of these regions they live together in large 
troops, and their appearance when flitting about under 
the deep shadow of the trees must be most beautiful. 
They are polygamous, like the gallinaceous birds, which 
they resemble in the magnificence of the attire of the 
male. Their food consists principally of fruits. 
THE EMERALD BIRD OF PARADISE {Paradisea 
o.poda) — Plate 12, fig. 39 — is one of the species so com- 
monly imported into Europe for the adornment of ladies’ 
bonnets and other head-dresses. It is an inhabitant 
of New Guinea and the islands lying to the west of 
that singular country, migrating from the one to the 
other with the monsoons. The general appearance of 
this bird is well known, and as it is represented in our 
figure, we need only state that the beautiful yellow 
plumes, which render it so elegant an ornament, spring 
from the sides of the body beneath the wings, and are 
of the structure commonly known as decomposed^ that 
is to say, the barbs of the feathers are distinct from 
each other, and do not adhere by means of barbules as 
in ordinary feathers. The two centre feathers of the 
tail are elongated into long filaments, with very short 
bai’bs ; these filaments and the yellow plumes are want- 
ing in the female. 
The inhabitants of tbe districts frequented by these 
birds kill them in great numbers, by climbing up into 
the trees at night, and shooting them with short arrows 
on their roosting places. The legs of the birds are 
then cut off, and their bodies dried by a fire, in which 
state they are sold to Malay dealers, by whose inter- 
vention they reach the hands of civilized merchants. 
For many years no specimens of the Emerald Bird of 
Paradise reached Europe except in this way, and thus 
it became a general opinion that this bird was naturally 
destitute of feet; so tliat, being incapable of perching, 
it was compelled to pass its whole life on the wing, and 
Linnaeus, although aware that this notion was errone- 
ous, gave the species the name of Paradisea apoda, or 
the footless bird of paradise, which it still retains. As, 
however, it would evidently be inconvenient to the 
bird to sleep on the wing, it was popularly supposed 
that the long filaments of the tail were conferred upon 
it to enable it to suspend itself head downwards from 
the branches of trees, in which somewhat uncomfortable 
position it was supposed to enjoy its repose. Several 
other absurd notions were also entertained regarding 
the habits of this bird, all arising from its assumed 
imperfections. To these we need not refer. 
The appearance of the male Bird of Paradise in his 
native forests is so beautiful, that those ornithologists 
wlio have had the opportunity of seeing him there, 
speak of it with the greatest enthusiasm. Of this, the 
following passage from the pen of the distinguished 
French naturalist, M. Lesson, may serve as an exam- 
ple : — “ Scarcely had I proceeded a few hundred yards 
into these ancient forests,” he says, “ the sombre gloom 
of which is perhaps the most magnificent and imposing 
spectacle that I have ever seen, when a Bird of Paradise 
attracted my attention ; it flew with grace, and in an 
undulating manner ; the feathers of its sides formed a 
graceful and airy plume, which, without hyperbole, 
bore no distant resemblance to a brilliant meteor. 
Struck with surprise and admiration, I feasted my 
eyes upon this magnificent bird with inexpressible 
pleasure ; but my disturbance was so great that I forgot 
to fire at him, and did not recollect that I had a gun till, 
he was far away.” The females, this author tells us, 
collect in bands at the summits of the highest trees in 
the forests, and cry out in concert to attract the males. 
The latter generally occur in the midst of a seraglio »of 
about fifteen females, for whose delectation they display 
their beautiful plumage somewhat in the manner of the 
j)eacock. By a sort of vibration of the entire plumage, 
they raise the whole of their feathers until the long 
delicate plumes of the sides surround the birds almost 
completely like a golden halo, “ in the centre of which,” 
says M. de Lafresnaye, “ the bright green head forms a 
disc, looking at the moment like a little emerald sun, with 
its rays formed by the feathers of the two plumes.” 
A specimen of this bird, sent home by Mr. Wallace, 
and mounted in accordance with his descriptions, is 
one of the most splendid ornaments of the ornitholo- 
gical gallery in tbe British Museum. The drooping 
feathers of the lateral plumes scarcely justify their 
comparison with a halo : they rather remind one of 
the fabled fountain of golden water, which plays so 
important a part in one of the Arabian Tales. The cry 
of the male is described by Lesson as resembling the 
words, voilce, voilce, voike, voiko, strongly articulated. 
That of the female is similar, but weaker. 
THE LITTLE EMERALD BIRD OF PARADISE {Para- 
disea papuensis) is about an inch shorter than the 
preceding species, the one measuring twelve, the other 
thirteen inches in length. The two birds are very 
similar in colouring, but the upper part of the back in 
the present species is yellow, and the lateral plumes 
are rather shorter in proportion.^ This is a more abun- 
dant species in New Guinea than the preceding one, 
and is commonly imported into Europe for the pur- 
poses of ornament. 
THE RED BIRD OF PARADISE {Paradisea i-uhra) 
has the face, the sides of the neck, and the throat 
covered with small velvet-like black feathers, exhibiting 
an emerald and golden lustre. The back of the head 
and neck, the upper j)art of the back and of the breast 
are yellow ; the shoulders and back are cinnamon red, 
and the wings, rump, and belly, chestnut brown. The 
plumes of the sides, which are of a closer texture than 
in the Emerald Bird of Paradise, are rather longer than 
the bird itself and of a most brilliant carm.ine red 
colour ; the tail is furnished with two very long fila- 
ments, which, however, are curled up for a considerable 
part of their length. The whole length of the bird is 
about thirteen inches. The female is destitute of the 
lateral plumes and cauded filaments, and has the face 
