THE LIVING WORLD. 
289 
velvet violet on the breast. The head and neck are of a bright straw-color, 
while the throat is of an emerald green extending to the eyes. A marvellously 
beautiful velvety band of deep green extends across the forehead, with ends 
resting over the eye tipped with yellow. Beautiful as are these blending colors, 
the chief glory of this magnificent bird is in its enormous tail, which is fully 
thirty-six inches long. The feathers with which it is so royally endowed spring 
from both sides of the body in a graceful sweep and fall in delicate gossa¬ 
mer of golden orange, 
with tips of pale brown, 
presenting the appear¬ 
ance of a shower of 
gold flakes. 
Paradise Widow 
(Vidua paradisea ) is a 
habitant of Western 
Africa, and not nearly 
so large as the pre¬ 
ceding species. On ac¬ 
count of its splendid 
plumage the name 
incomparable bird has 
also been given it. 
The body decoration is 
most lustrous, with 
sheens of deep brown, 
black, and b u ff and 
white on the abdomen. 
Like the former spe¬ 
cies, the tail consti¬ 
tutes the most mag¬ 
nificent feature about 
it, though unlike the 
former the tail consists 
of only two scimetar- 
shaped feathers that 
are nearly two feet long, 
while above these shafts 
are two other shorter, 
paddle-shaped feathers, the ends of which are denuded, the points of the quills 
projecting. The widow-bird builds a curious nest of vegetable fibres of a 
downy softness, which is divided into two compartments, in one of which the 
male sits on guard while the female occupies the other with her eggs or brood. 
The Shaft-tailed Widow, or Widdah Bird (Vidua reglia), is another African 
species similar in appearance to the former, though not so large, and the tail, 
instead of having two broad feathers, is ornamented with four very slender 
shafts springing as central feathers from the true tail. Both species are fre¬ 
quently seen in European aviaries. 
The Lyre Bird (.Menura superba) is commonly classed among the wrens, but 
a glance at the illustration will serve to convince the reader that it belongs to the 
19 
WIDDAH FINCH, OR WIDOW-BIRD. 
