288 
THE LIVING WORLD. 
The Bold Honey-Sucker {Nectarinia metallica) has been classed among" 
the sun-birds on account of its resplendent plumage, but its general character¬ 
istics are at variance with those of the genera, who appear to be confined 
entirely to the Malayan Peninsula and the Oceanic Islands. The honey-sucker 
is a habitant of north-eastern Africa, small of size, but gorgeously bedecked, and 
distinguished also for the two long feathers of the tail that trail after the flying 
bird like parallel rays of irides¬ 
cence. The head, neck and mantle 
are of a refulgent green, the 
rump and throat a purplish-blue 
and the belly a reddish-yellow. 
Beautiful, or Legless Bird 
of Paradise (Paradisea apodb ), 
is found only in the Malay Ar¬ 
chipelago, and no intelligent ob¬ 
server has reported it outside of 
New Guinea. The name legless 
was applied by the earliest voy¬ 
agers to these still comparatively 
unknown shores out of respect 
for the belief among the neigh¬ 
boring islanders that the sun- 
birds spent all their time in 
the air. This idea w r as further 
beautiful, or legless bird of paradise. perpetuated by Malay traders, and 
also by the Portuguese, who fre¬ 
quently bartered with the natives for the skins of these birds, to which the 
legs were never attached. They therefore called them 
birds of the sun. John von Linschoten, a learned Dutch 
naturalist, gave to them the name Paradise birds in 1598, 
and in writing of them says : “ No one has seen these 
birds alive, for they live in the air, always turning 
toward the sun, and never lighting on the earth until 
they die; for they have neither feet nor wings, as may 
be seen by the birds carried to India, and sometimes to 
Holland.” 
About the year 1700, the historiographer of the Dampier 
Expedition, William Funnel, mentions having seen speci¬ 
mens of these birds at Amboyna, and was told by the 
natives that they came to Banda among the nutmeg 
groves, where they, feasting off the fruit until becoming 
intoxicated, would fall senseless to the ground and expire. 
The species P. apoda was named by Linnaeus in 1758, 
and he seems to have cherished the tradition that the paradise widow and beard- 
bird was without legs, as the name implies. More recent «?Ja) NCH ^ Amadina f as - 
and reliable knowledge concerning the species has been 
obtained by Wallace, Rosenberg, D’Albertis and Beccari. We now know that the 
P. apoda is the largest of the sun-birds, measuring in length of body about 
eighteen inches. The color of the back is a rich seal-brown, running into a 
