so that the wings are not of that form which is best adapted for turning readily in the air, although they are capable of sustaining a protracted flight.

The Paradise Birds (Paradiseance) are those which exhibit the greatest affinity to the tenuirostral tribe, or suctorial birds. These are very peculiar birds, confined to a peculiar situation on the globe, whose climate, seasons, and the greater part of its natural productions are also peculiar, and not to be met with in any other part of the world.

The exceeding elegance and richness of the plumes of these birds not only procured for them names indicative of superior attractions, but gave them a notoriety which caused them to be sought after by the chiefs and nobles of all lands, and they have long been a source of profitable trade to those who have been fortunate enough to procure them. The extraordinary fiction with which the craft of the inhabitants of the Eastern countries where they are found deluded the ignorant, rendered them still more objects of curiosity and desire. The natives were in the habit of carefully removing the legs from the skins ere they produced them for sale, and they were stated to pass their whole existence in the air, where all the functions of life were carried on.

"The golden birds, that ever sail the skies,

Here to the sun display their shining dyes;
Each want supplied on air they ever soar;

The ground they touch not till they breathe no more."*

The dew and the vapours were said to be their only food. The brilliant lustre of their plumage, the rich

* Camoens.

hues and delicate structure of their ornamental trappings and thread-like feathers, fostered the idea that they were inhabitants of some ever calm and sunny region, where no storms occurred to ruffle their plumes, and where they floated about on never-tiring wing, in a balmy perfumed atmosphere and a cloudless sky. They were called Birds of Paradise, God's Birds, Passaros de Sol.

Although the peculiar habits and economy of the Birds of Paradise have not yet been examined or made familiar to the naturalist, they are supposed to feed chiefly upon soft substances, such as the pulpy or farinaceous parts of fruits, upon worms and insects. They are natives of New Guinea, the Papuan Islands, or islands of the Indian Ocean, whose inhabitants are exceedingly remote from civilization. The skins which are brought to this country are obtained chiefly from the Chinese traders, in a dry and mutilated state.

New Guinea appears to be the head-quarters of these birds, from whence they migrate seasonally to the smaller isles which lie in its vicinity. They resort to the forests, not, like the parrots, to clamber amidst the twigs and leaves in search of their food, for their flowing trains and ornamental plumes would ill accord with such a habit, but to perch on the summits of the loftiest trees, or to seek shade and shelter beneath their ample foliage. They live in troops, some of them at least have been observed to do so, and seek their food only at the rising and setting of the sun.

The islands on which these birds have hitherto been found are subject to alternations of rain and drought,

though not so violent nor of so long continuance as in the more extended lands within the tropics; and the fervent heat of the rainless period produces eventually a temporary suspension of animal and vegetable action, so that the birds are forced to seek a moister atmosphere, where their food may still be found. At these places, says an amusing and elegant writer, where the earth and the upper part of the forest are parched, and the ardour of the unclouded sun continues to beat, there is a constant rarefaction, and consequent ascent of the whole mass of the atmosphere; and in consequence of this the winds from the more humid surfaces must blow towards those parched places with velocities proportional to the differences between the one and the other. It is this which produces the seasonal winds of the tropical countries, and it is this, acted on by the changing declination of the sun, which produces the changing monsoons or alternations of the tropical seasons.

When the forest, which is the haunt of the Paradise Birds, at any particular time becomes parched, their food lessens, and they are compelled to be more on the wing in their search after it. But on which side soever there then happens to be a place more humid and more abounding in those creatures on which they feed, and which on this account is better suited to them for the time, there is a wind which blows from that side toward the place which is parched and heated, and the action of that wind upon their flocculent feathers turns them round on their centres of gravity like weathercocks; their heads are, as they fly, turned to the wind, and their progress is of course against its

current. Their feathers must thus in so far assist the birds in finding out the direction of those places where they can feed.*

During very rough weather the Birds of Paradise remain in their retreats, the flocculent nature of their plumage rendering them unable to contend with strong winds or heavy rains.

The generic characters of the Paradise Birds are, the bill of moderate size, straight in its general line,

of one; nostrils basal and lateral, open, but concealed among the feathers at the base of the bill. The tarsi and toes are stout; the former generally short; the latter three to the front and one behind; the middle toe shorter than the tarsus, the outer united to it at its base, and the inner joined to half the length of the first phalanx, the hinder toe larger and stronger than the others. The first five quills of the wings are nearly of equal length, and the sixth or seventh usually the longest.

There are several species of Paradise Birds, whose characters are tolerably known; but others have only been observed by the naturalist in a mutilated state ;

*British Cyclopædia.

and their peculiar characters, save with regard to their plumage, are totally unknown. They have all produced feathers, with flocculent webs on the flanks, the scapulars, or both; they have, in general, long thread-like feathers in the tail, which are sometimes terminated by little discs or palettes, and the plumage of the rest of their bodies is in a great measure peculiar. All their feathers are better formed for taking hold on the wind than for making way against it, for they are all remarkable for their loose and velvetlike texture. This is remarkable in the feathers of the head, and in those of the neck, more especially in the species which have a ruff of produced feathers upon that part; but it is not confined to these, for the whole plumage of the body, and even the flying feathers of the wings, have a more loose and velvety texture than those of most other birds.

The species which is most known in this country is likewise the most elegant bird of the family. It is the Paradisea apoda of Linnæus, or the great Emerald Bird of Paradise. From the point of the bill to the extremity of the tail the length is about a foot; but the produced feathers of the flanks, which are exceedingly light and beautiful in their form, extend about a foot more. The general colour is a rich cinnamonbrown, but it varies considerably on the different parts. Over the nostrils and on the forehead there are very thick, soft and velvety, black feathers, with green reflections. The crown and nape are pale yellow, the throat golden green, the hind part of the neck purplebrown, the rest of the upper part, and also the breast and belly, maroon-brown; the bill yellowish-black. The