| K
d p i
H i
p H
I I - ; I
480 P A R A D I S E B I R D .
black creft, compofed of fine, ftrait, and not very long feathers :
the head, hind part of the neck, and back, are covered with
green gold feathers; thefe are broad, and well furnifhed with
webs, and have to the eye and touch every appearance of velvet,
laying fo over one another, that one may with propriety compare
them to fcales of a filh: the wings are of a dull deep black : the
tail, on the contrary, has a blueifh glofs: throat changeable
violet, the feathers thereon like velvet: the belly bright green;
on each fide, from under the wings, is a tuft of black velvety
feathers of unequal lengths, which rife fome height above.the
back, having the appearance of fecond wings, and turn down-
waid towards the tail, many of thefe being as long as the wing
itfelf: the legs are brown.
In the Levgrian Mufeum is a bird fomewhat like this, and
nearly of the fame fize, but is wholly black on the head: from
the place of the wings arife two tufts fomewhat like thofe above
defcribed, but the wings themfelves are wanting: .on the upper
part of the belly is the raoft brilliant fet of black green gloffy feathers
imaginable, and in fhape exactly forked like the tail of a
Swallow, the feathers of which this is compofed feem to be
longer than the .reft of the belly feathers, and ftand out a little
from the belly: the legs feem ftrong and black. As this is an
imperfeft bird, I am unwilling to place it here as a fpecies, efpe-
cially as it is poflible that from the wing tufts it may prove related
to the laft defcribed.
L ’Oifeau
P A R A D I S E B I R D ; 481
L ’Oifeau Paradis a gorge doree, Son. Voy. p. 158. pi. 97.
Le Sifilet, ou Manucode a fix filets, Buf. oif iii. p. 171.—PI. enl. 633.
C IZ E of the common Turtle. The bill is blackifh : irides yellow
: on the forehead, at the root of the bill, is a creft, which
the bird carries nearly ereft; this, when laid flat, extends not
much beyond the eyes, and is compofed of fine fluff- feathers, not
well furnilhed with webs j at firft this creft is black, but fome of
the feathers are half black half white: top of the head, cheeks,
and throat, are of a changeable violet black: fore part of the
neck and bread gilded changeable green, very brilliant: on the
hind part of the neck is a large fpot of green gold : the back is
deep black, with a violet glofs : tail and wings black: beneath
each wing arife long black feathers, which cover over and embrace
the wings in a ftate of reft; the webs of thefe are loofe
like thofe of an Oftrich : on each fide of the head, about the
place of the ears, are three long feathers without webs, except a
fmall part, of an oval fhape, juft at the tips; thefe are of fuch a
length, that when ranged on each fide of the body, they reach a
quarter way on the tail, which is fomewhat cuneiform: the legs
are blackifh.
One of thefe birds, in the colleftion of Mtfs Blomefield, received
from Holland, anfwered nearly to the above defcription, except in
the long weblefs ear feathers ; but though thefe were wanting in
her bird, there remained, as it were, the rudiments of them, the bird
having a few feathers longer than the reft at that part; nor had
hef’s the Oftrich-like feathers under the wing. Buffon mentions
the like circumftance, in a bird publifhed by M. Marvi, addino-,
that his bird had not the creft.— It is not improbable but the laft-
3 mentioned
6.
GOLDBREASTED
P. B.
Place.
*