•!f I
able to learn anytliliig aiitlientie about tberii, called them ' Passaros de Sol' (or Birds of the SuiiJ ; while the
learned Dutchmen,wlio wrote in Latin, called them 'Avis ])aradiseus ' (or Paradise-bird). John van Linschoten
gives these names in 1598, and tells us that no one has seen these birds alive ; for they live in the air, always
tuniiiig towards the and never lighting on tlie earth till they die ; for tliey have neither feet nor wings,
as, he adds, may be seen by the birds carried to India, and sometimes to Holland ; but being very costly tliey
are rarely seen in Euroj)e. More than a huTidred years later Mr. William Funnel, who accompanicd Damjiier,
and wrote an account of the voyage, saw specimens at Amboyna, and was told that they came to Bandu to
eat nutmegs, which intoxicated them, anil made them fall down senseless, when they were killed by ants.
Down to 1760, when Linnaeus named the largest sj)ccies Varadisra apoda (the footless Paradise-bird), no
jicrfect sjiecimen had been seen in Europe, and absolutely nothing was known about them. And even now,
a hundred years later, most books state that they migrate annually to Ternate, Banda, and Amboyna,
« liereas the fact is that they are as completely unknown in these islands in a wild state as they are in England."
I may remark that Edwards had probably a complete specimen in 1750, as he mentions the figures in the
older authors, such as Willughby, and says, " As none of these were satisfactory to me, I have given this
ligin-e and descri])tion of a perfect bird, which may more than answer the ])urposes of so many and
again :—" I t hath legs and feet of a moderate proportion and strength for its bigness, shaped lunch like those
of Pyes or Jays, of a (hirk brown colour, armed with claws of middling strength."
Dr. Wallace continues :—" The Great Biril of Paradise is very active and vigorous, ajid seems to be in
constant motion all day long. It is very abundant, small flocks of females and young males being eonstantiv met
witli ; and though the full-plumaged birds are less plentiful, their loud cries, which are heard d¿l¡ly, show that
they also are very numerous. Their note is ' Wauk-wauk-vvauk-wok-wok-wok,' and is so loud and shrill as to
be heard at a great distance, and to form the most prominent and characteristic animal-sound in the Aru
Islands. The mode of nidification is unknown ; but tlie natives tokl me that the nest was made of leaves placed
on an ants' nest, or on some ¡irojecting limb of a very lofty tree, and believe that it contains only one young
bird. The egg is quite iinknown, and the natives declared they had never seen i t ; and a very high reward
olfercd for one by a Dutch official did not meet with success. They moult about January or February ; and
in May, when they are in full ])lnmage, the males assemble early in the morning to exhibit themselves. This
habit enables the natives to obtain specimens with comparative case. As soon as they find that the birds have
fi.xed u])on a tree on which to assemble, they build a little shelter of palm leaves in a convenient place among
the branches; and the hunter ensconces himself in it before daylight, armed with his bow and a number ofarrows
tern)inating in a round knob. A boy waits at the foot of the tree; and when the birds come at sunrise, and
a sufficient number have assembled, and have begun to dance, the hunter shoots with his blunt arrow so
strongly as to stnn the bird, which dro])s down, and is secured and killed by the boy without its plumage being
injured by a droj) of blood. The rest take no notice, and fall one after another till some of them take the
alarm."
The descriptions arc taken from my ' Catalogue of the Birds in the British Museum ' :—
" yldult male. General colour above maroon-brown, including the entire back and wings ; head and ncck
clothed in compressed thick-set feathers of a straw-yellow colour, velvety in texture; round the eye a narrow
line of black ; forehead, lores, clieeks, throat, and fore neck dark metallic green, all the plumes close-set and
velvety, the forehead, lores, and chin having a velvety black appearance under certain lights, and forming as
it were a mask ; breast deep ])ur])lish brown, shading gradually into maroon-brown on the abdomen and
under tail-coverts; under wing-coverts and inner lining of wings maroon-brown; tail maroon-brown like the
back, the two centre feathers enormously elongated into two wire-like shafts about 30 inches long ; from the
flanks s])ring two enormous tufts of beautiful plumes, bright yellow for two-thirds of their length, and then
shading into chocolate-brown ; the shafts produced at the tips of the feathers and white, the plumes towards
their extremities very lax, the webs separate and very distinct; at the base of these side-tufts are several
rigid plumes of bright yellow, some of which end in blood-red, giving the a])pearance of being streaked with
blood-red; bill lead-colour, inclining to greenish white at the tip; legs and feet flesh-colour. Total length
18 inches, culmen I'O, wing 9'35, tail 7'2, tarsus 2'2.
Adult female. General colour all over maroon-brown, deepening to purplish chestimt on the head, neck,
and chest; plimies of the head close-set and velvety, and the nape somewhat tinged witli straw-yellow ;
flank-plumes lax and elongated, maroon-brown like tlie breast and abdomen ; two centre tail-feathers rather
pointed. Total length lo' 3 inches, culmen 1'45, wing 7-5, tail 6'4, tarsus 1-85."
The only known egg of this Paradise-bird exists in the Dresden Bluseum, and has been described by
Dr. A. B. Meyer. It has a peculiar reddish colour all over, marked with blotches of darker rufous or
chestnut-brown, with a few large spots of black near the larger end. Length l-5o inches, diam. M . The
figure by Dr. von Madarasz in the ' Zei tsehr i f t ' represents the egg as much too small.
The figures are taken from specimens in the British Museum, formerly in the Gould Collection.
PARADISEA NOV/E-GUINEiE, n'Aiba-ih cS- ^ahad.
Fly-River Birtl of Paradise.
PanuUsea apoda (ncc Linn.), D'Albert. Ann. Mus. Civic. Ccnov. x. pp. 11-20 (1877).—Id. Nuova Guinea,
pp. .•Ì72, .•i7.1, 490, 517, 618 (1880).—Rosenb. MT. orn. Ver. Wicn, 1885, p. 17 (pt).
Paradisea apoda, var. Hmm-guinea:, D'Albert. & Salvad. Ann. Mus. Clvic. Geiiov. xiv. p. Oli (187D).—Mubschenbr.
Daghoek, pp. 182, 220 (1883).
Paradisea mvm-guineai, D'Albert. & Salvad. Ann. Mus. Civic. Genov. xiv. p. 147 (187!)).—Salvad. Orn.
della Papuasia, etc. ii. p. 009 (1881).—Id. Aggiunte Orn. Papuasia, ii. p. 15!) (1890).— Sharpe, Bull.
Brit. Orn. Club, iv. p. xiii (1891).
Tnis species represents on the mainland of New Guinea the true I'aradiseu upmlu of the Am Islands ; but
Coimt Salvadori points out that it is a distinctly smaller bird, the chestnut colour of the male being brighter
and more vinaccous, the breast darker blackish brown, the median and greater wing-coverls often more
or less golden, though this colour is obsolete in some individuals.
So far Paradisea novre-gidneee has only been found on the Fly and Alice Rivers in Southern New Guinea.
Here D'Albertis obtained a large series, and Count Salvadori points out that in the lower districts of the Fly
River the sjiecies is absent and is replaced by Paradisea raggiaiia. It appears not to be found at Hall Bay,
and it is probable that the species has a somewhat limited range in Southern Neiv Guinea.
Many specimens from the Fly River and the Alice are recorded by Count Salvadori in his ' Ornitologia
della Papuasia' as undoubted hybrids between Paradisea raggiana and P. nonm-guinea:. Besides the
possession of characters which are intermediate between the two forms, the Count records a variation in
the colour of the flank-plumes in these hybrids rmiging from yellow to orange and bright orange-red.
I have not considered it necessary to give a figure of this species, as the characters for its separation
from P. apoda are very slight, and the smaller size of the New Guinea bird seems to be the best uuirk of
difference.