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PERCHING BIRDS. 
Six-Plumed Bird Another strange and beautiful representative of a group in which 
of Paradise. a p are lovely beyond description is the six-plumed bird of paradise 
(Parotid sexpennis ) of New Guinea, which is the only known member of its genus. 
In common with the remaining members of the family, this bird has a short tail, 
without any elongation of the central pair of feathers, while it is specially char¬ 
acterised by three pairs of very long racket-feathers springing from the sides of the 
head. With the exception of a vivid steely-green bar across the crown of the head, 
and a tuft of silvery feathers at the base of the beak, together with a green and 
bronze gorget on the breast, the plumage is almost entirely black; the tuft of 
silvery feathers on the beak being capable of erection or depression at will. For 
many years this splendid species was known only by skins badly prepared by the 
HEAD OF SIX-PLUMED BIRD OF PARADISE. 
(From Guillemard’s Cruise of the Marchesa.) 
natives; but eventually it was observed in the living state by Signor Albertis, 
who writes as follows of his first sight of it in its native haunts:—“ After standing 
still for some moments in the middle of the little glade, the beautiful bird peered 
about to see if all was safe, and then he began to move the long feathers of his 
head, six in number, from which his name is derived, and to raise and lower a 
small tuft of white feathers above his beak, which shone in the rays of the sun 
like burnished silver; he also raised and lowered the crest of stiff feathers, almost 
like scales, and glittering like bits of bright metal with which his neck was 
adorned. He spread and contracted the long feathers on his sides in a way that 
made him appear now larger and again smaller than his real size, and, jumping 
first on one side and then on the other, he placed himself proudly in an attitude 
of combat, as though he imagined himself fighting with some invisible foe. All this 
time he was uttering a curious note, as though calling on some one to admire his 
beauty, or perhaps challenging an enemy.” From this account it would appear that 
the species is much less arboreal in its habits than the other members of the family. 
The standard- Even more remarkable than the last is the standard-wing (Semi¬ 
ring. optera wallacei ), from the islands of Batchian and Gilolo, which like- 
