The Hijlory 'of A N I M A L S. 405 
whole bird appears of variable colouring, as feen in different lights, but in all very 
beautiful: the head is large : the beak is in fliape like that of the cuckow 5 i is mo¬ 
derately long, and a little bent or hooked : the noftrils are fmall, depreffed, and of an 
oval figure: the eyes are fmall, but of a very piercing afpedt, and their iris is of a fine 
orange colour. 
The whole crown of the head, from the naked part at the bafe of the beak to the 
beginning of the neck, is covered with fhort, thick, and rigid feathers, of a fine gold 
yellow, and extreamly bright and gloffy : the lower part of the head and the throat 
are covered with feathers of a fofter texture, and of a mod: elegant changeable deep 
blue and green colour, fuch as we fee on the neck of fome of the duck kind : the back 
and rump are of a beautiful colour; a red, but not bright or fiery, but tinged with a 
mixture of a kind of brown : the bread is of the fame colour, only fomething paler 5 
and the belly is dill paler than that. 
The wings are very well feathered3 they are long, and pointed at the ends: the 
principal feathers are of a very deep colour, feeming formed of an admixture of black 
and red, and over thefe there dand fome others of a lingular dructure, confiderably 
large, and mod elegantly variegated with fcarlet and yellow : the tail is moderately 
long, but the two long feathers of all are of more than three times the length of the 
others5 thefe alfo are of the fame mixed, dark, but glowing colour with the princi¬ 
pal feathers of the wings, but there are none of the variegated feathers toward their 
bafes. 
The bread and belly of this fpecies are covered with thick-fet and confiderably 
broad feathers3 the back with narrower and more rare ones: the legs are fhort, and 
of a pale flefh colour 3 the toes are long, and the claws are long, black, and fharp. 
This, and indeed all the other fpecies of this genus, are the natives only of the hot¬ 
ter countries; they keep almod continually on the wing, in the manner of our fwal- 
lows, their wings and tail being extreamly long, and their bodies very light. There 
grew from hence an opinion among the vulgar, that they had no legs; and thofe who 
fent them over preferved to us, ufed to favour the deceit, by pulling off the legs of fuch, 
before they dried them. Many of the writers on birds have defcribed this fpecies. It 
was one of the firft brought over into Europe, and thence acquired among us the name 
of the common bird of Paradife, or, Amply, the bird of Paradife, and among authors 
that of Avis Paradifi primus 5 Aldrovand calls it Manucodiata prima 3 and ,Ray, Wil- 
lughby, and others have copied the fame name. 
Paradifcea flavo-ferruginea capite paliidiore 
maculato . 
"The yellowifh-brown Paradifcea , with a pah 
/potted head. 
This is alfo a very beautiful fpecies, though in the whole lefs fo than the former 3 it 
is of the bignefs of a lark: the head is large, and fcarce at all flatted on the crown : 
the beak is moderately long, fomewhat hooked, and of a pale brown: the tipper chap 
is a little longer than the under, and the infide of the mouth yellow : the’noftrils are 
fmall, hollowed, and oval 3 the eyes are very fmall, and their iris is of a fiery red, 
with a tinge of yellow diffufed throughout: the head is of a very pale colour, approach¬ 
ing to white, and of a filvery glofs, and is elegantly fpotted all over with a bright yel¬ 
low 3 the fpots in fome lights having the appearance of burnifhed gold. 
• 
The back is of a beautiful colour, formed of a mixture of yellow and a ferrugi- 
neous brown : the upper part, near the neck, is paleft 3 it has very little of the brown, 
but in the place of it a greyifh-white, mixed with the yellow and predominating! 
Toward the middle of the back there is a good deal of brown in the yellow, but it is 
yet very bright and glittering, and at the rump it is perfedly brown ; the bread: and 
5 k belly 
