THE KINGBIRD OF PARADISE. 
I HE sublime is no nearer the 
^ I ridiculous in literature than in 
qJ I the things of nature. An 
instance of this is the close 
relation of the common Crow to the 
most glorious bird of them all. Not 
only are they very much alike in 
general form, including shape of feet, 
bill, bones, and ordinary feathering, but 
also in habit. They seem to delight in 
the same sorts of food and secure it in 
much the same manner. When they 
are happiest and attempt to pour forth 
their songs of joy the voice of the Crow 
is fully as melodious and satisfactory 
to the human ear as is that of the Bird 
of Paradise. 
The old fable in regard to their 
having no feet and living only on the 
dews of heaven and the delicacies 
which they were supposed to be able 
to collect from the atmosphere as they 
floated perpetually free from the earth 
and its contaminations was so grateful 
to Europeans that when Antony Piga- 
fetta, who accompanied Magellan 
around the world and secured a great 
deal of information at first hand, 
described them as birds with very 
ordinary, in fact, almost ugly, feet and 
legs, he was not believed, and Aldro- 
vandus publicly brought accusations 
against him for audacious falsehood. 
While the males have not only a 
splendid growth of delicate floating 
feathers of very unusual length 
and glossy fineness of texture, the 
females have but little more to boast 
of than our American Crow, and they 
even lack the degree of lustre which 
our black friend frequently exhibits. 
But the males are adorned with a 
wealth of color display, rich in velvety 
softness and blazing with metallic 
lustre. This lustre cannot be appre- 
ciated from the appearance of the faded 
specimens so often seen in the museums 
which may have suffered, not alone 
from dust and exposure for years to the 
I chemical action of light but have also 
I been sadly diminished in glory by the 
rude arts of the natives who fumigate 
the skins with burning sulphur, their 
principal care seeming to be to get 
enough of it deposited to make sure of 
the skins' not being attacked by insects. 
To be seen to best advantage one 
needs to watch them as they make their 
short migrations in flocks from one 
island to another with the change of 
the seasons from the dry to the wet 
monsoon. They prefer traveling against 
the wind rather than with it because 
their plumage is so elaborate and deli- 
cate in its structure that an attempt to 
fly with the wind frequently brings 
disaster to the glorious males and 
causes them to tumble ignominiously 
to the ground, after which they are a 
long time in arranging affairs for 
another attempt at navigation of the 
air. 
The King Bird of Paradise is a small 
bird, measuring but little over six inches 
in length. It is extremely vivacious, 
flying about and running with but 
little show of the dignity of its family. 
Very fond of fruits, it is not satisfied 
with attacking those which other birds 
of its size would choose, but enjoys 
showing its gormandizing powers by 
devouring as much as possible of the 
largest specimens within its reach. 
The fan-shaped tuft of feathers which 
adorns each side of the bird are subject 
to his will, being raised and spread out 
or lowered as the weather or the feel- 
ings of the bird seem to demand. At 
the ends of the long feather shafts 
springing from its tail are markings 
which strongly resemble the eye-like 
ornaments of the Peacock. The shafts 
seem not content with stretching them- 
selves out to a greater length than that 
of the bird itself, but at the extremities 
they curve inward coiling compactly 
into spiral discs flashing with emerald 
green. 
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