GREAT BIRD OF PARADISE.
THE GREATER BIRD OF PARADISE, Edw. Birds (1760), vol. in. pi. 110.—Lath. Gen. Syn. (1782) p. 471, vol. iL—Id. Gen. Hist. (1822)
vol. in. p. 182.
PARADISEA CASTANEA, Lath. Synops. sp. 1.
L’OISEAU DE PARADIS, Briss. Ornith. (1760) vol. ii. p. 130, pi. riii.
L’OISEAU DE PARADIS DES MOLUQUES, Buff. Planch. Enlum. (1774) p. 190. t. 254.—Briss. H is t des Ois. (1775) vol. iii. p. 151,1 .12.
PARADISEA APODA, Linn. Syst. Nat. (1766) vol. i. p. 166.-Gmel. Syst. N a t (1788) vol. i. pt. i. p. 399.—Lath. Ind. Ornith. (1790) vol. iL
p. 194.—Wagl. Syst. Av. (1827) sp. 1.—Bon. Consp. Gen. Av. (18.50) p. 412. sp. 1.—G. R. Gray, List Gen. Birds (1855), p. 65.—Id.
Hand-1. Birds (1870), pt. ii. p. 16. sp. 6247.—Id. Proc. Zool.' Soc. (1861) p. 436.—Id. Gen. Birds (1845), voL ii. p. 323. sp. 1—Wall.
Proc. Zool. Soc. (1862) p. 160.—Id. Ibis (1859),' p. I ll (1861), p. 289.—Id. Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. (1857) vol. xx. p. 411.—VieiU.
Ency. Méth. t. iii. p. 906.-Bechst. Kurze Uebersicht (1811), P - 130. sp. 1.—Schleg. Mus. Pays-Bas (1867), p. 78— Cuv. Règne Anim.
(1829) vol. i. p. 426.—Wall. Malay Archip..vol. ii. p. 238 (1869).—Schleg. Journ. fur Ornith. (1861) p. 384—Von Rosenb. Joura. fur
. Ornith. (1864) p. 42.—Id. Tidsch. Dierk. p t xii. p. 342.
PARADISEA MAJOR, Shaw, Gen. Zopi.' (1809) vol. vii. pt. ii. p. 480, pi. 58, and (1826) vol. riv. p. 76.—Less. Ois. Parad. (1835), Syn. p. 6 ;
Hist. Nat. p. 155. pi. 6.—Id. Ornith. p. 336 (1831)., .
LE GRAND OISEAU DE PARADIS ÉMERAUDE, Levaill. Hist. Nat. des Ois. Parad. vol. i. (1806) pis. 1, 2, 3.
L’ÉMERAUDE, Vieill. Ôis. Dor. t. i. vol. ii. (1802) p. 9.
PARADISEA APODA. var. WALLACIANA, G. R. Gray, Proc. Zool. Soc. (1858) p. 181. sp. 73.
Hab. New Guinea, Aru (W a llace).
Id a many years the Birds of Paradise have been known to all persons whose avocations called them to the
Moluccas ; and the earlier voyagers among those islands entertained strange views regarding these attractive creatures.
Their beautiM plumage excited the admiration of the most indifferent person; and the strange stories related of them
aroused the fears of the more superstitions of even'the reckless mariners. Wallace says that the Malay traders gave
them the name of “ Manuk dewata,'.’ or “ God's birds; ” and the Portuguese, finding them without feet or wings, and
not being able to learn any thin; authentic about them, called them “ Passaros do Sol," or “ birds of the sun;”
while the learned Dutchmen who wrote in Latin, called them “ Avis paradise™,” or “ Paradise-bird.” John Van
Linschoten gives these names in 1598, and states that no one has seen these birds olive; for.they live in the air,
always turning towards the sun, and never alighting on the earth until they die; for he says that they have neither
feet nor wings, as may he seen by the birds carried to India, and sometimes to Holland. “More than a hundred years
later," says Wallace, “ Mr. William Funnel, who accompanied Dampier, and wrote on account of the voyage, saw
specimens at Amboyna, and was told that they come to Banda to eat nutmegs, which intoxicated them and made
them fall down senseless, when they were killed by onto.” As no perfect specimen of this beautiM bird had been
seen in Europe at the time of Linnaeus, that naturalist gave the present species, one of the longest-known, the name
of apoda or fm ik u , although it really is posaessed of those members very respectable in size. T ie Great Bird of
Paradise, as its name imports, is the largest known species, and is an inhabitant of the Aru Islands. Mr. Wallace,
whose opportunities for observing it in its native wilds have been most favourable, gives the following account of it
in his work on the Malay archipelago ft» “ The Great Bird of Paradise is very active and vigorous, and seems to he
in constant motion all day long. It is very abundant, small flocks of females and young males being constantly met
with- and though the foll-plumaged birds are less plentHul, their loud cries, which are heard daily, show that they
also ore very numerous. Their note is 'Wnwk-wnwk-wawk wok-wuk-wok,’ mid is so loud and shrill as to he heard
a great distance, and to form the most prominent and characteristic animal sound in the Aru Islands. The
mode of nidification is unknown; hut the natives told me that the nest was formed of leaves placed on on Ant's
nest, or on some projecting limh of a very lolly tree; and they believe that it contains only one young bud
The egg is quite unknown; the natives declare that they have never seen it; and a very high reward offered
for one by a Dutch official did not meet with success. They moult about January or Februmy; and m May,
when they are in foil plumage, the moles assemble early in the morning to exhibit themselves m the singular
manner already described on page 151. This habit enables the natives to obtain specimens with comparative
ease. As soon as they find that the birds have fixed upon a tree on which to assemble, they build a bttle shelter
of palm-leaves in a convenient place among the branches; and the hunter ensconce, himself m it before daybght,