C o m m o n .
(liferent colors, and not to be defcribed ; and few are more dif--
ficult to be reprefented in words, than thofe of this genus.
T h e time in which they were brought to Europe was very
early, and I fufpect long before they were obferved by any na-
turaliils. There is reafon to believe that the Lurks received them
by means of the Arabians, who procured them from India by
their commerce on the Red jea or Perjian gulph, and fold them
for ornaments to the turbans of the great officers o f the Janif-
faries. Belon firft took notice o f them, and eredulouily believed
them to have been the Phoenix ; in one place he fuppofes them to
have been the Rhyntaces j. he juftly defcribes them as forming a
vaft mafs o f feathers iiliiing from a fmall body, out of which the
Arabians had extricated the fleih; which agrees with the ufual.
method o f preparation. Nicholas de Nicholai aitually gives the
figure o f a captain o f JaniJfaries ornamented with its plumes :
Gefner is the firft who caufed this bird to be engraven, and his
figure and that of Glufius was long copied by fucceeding natu-
ralifts.
Few birds are more circumfcribed in their limits than the
Birds o f Paradife. They are confined within the Papua iflands,
and that o f New Guinea, and are found only from Latitude 8“
fouth, to Lat. 3° north o f the equator, and between Longitude
xay and 140.
S u c h is the general view of thefe wonderful birds. The
Paradifea Apoda *, o f which there are two varieties called
the greater and leffer birds o f Paradife, chiefly inhabit
the Arrou ifles t . They are natives o f both New Guinea as
well as of thefe iflands, are fuppofed to breed in the firft,
* Lin. Syit. 166. Pi. Enl. 354. f Edw. H O . Latham, ii. 471.
and to refide there during the wet monfoon, but retire to
the Arrou ifles, about a hundred arid forty miles to the eaft,
during the dry or weftem monfoons. In the eaft monfoon they
moult their long feathers, but recover them in the weft. They
always migrate in flocks o f thirty or forty, and have a leader,
which the inhabitanss of Arrou call the King-, he is faid'to be
black, to have red fpots, and to fly far above the flock, which
never defert him, but fettle where he fettles. They conftantly
avoid flying with the wind, which ruffles and blows their loofe
plumage over their heads, and often forces them down to the
ground, from which they are unable to rife without fame advantage
; hard fhowers of rain are equally deftruftive to them.
When they are furprifed with a ftrong gale, they inftantly foar
to a higher region, beyond the reach o f the tempeft ; there they
float at eafe in the ferene iky, on their light flowing feathers, or
purfue their journey in fecurity; during their flight they cry
like ftarlings, but in the diftrefs o f a ftorm blowing in their
rear, they exprefs it by a note refembling the croaking o f
ravens.
W h e n they alight, it is on the higheft trees, the king taking
the lead ; they "prefer the varinga parvifolia *, on-the berries of
which thefe birds and various forts o f parrots feed ; fome fay
that they feed on nutmegs, on butterflies, and even fmall birds;
the ftrength of their claws favors that opinion; yet that circum-
ftance may alfo be requifite to birds, which are always to live
perched. The natives o f Arrou watch their arrival, and either
ihoot them with blunt arrows, or catch them with bird-lime or
* Humph, iii, tab. 90.
noofes ;