Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
The 'King' and the 'Twelve-wired' Birds of Paradise
The Paradiseidæ are a group of moderate-sized birds, allied in their structure and habits to
crows, starlings, and to the Australian honeysuckers; but they are characterised by ex-
traordinary developments of plumage, which are unequalled in any other family of birds. In
several species large tufts of delicate bright-coloured feathers spring from each side of the
body beneath the wings, forming trains, or fans, or shields; and the middle feathers of the
tail are often elongated into wires, twisted into fantastic shapes, or adorned with the most
brilliant metallic tints. In another set of species these accessory plumes spring from the
head, the back, or the shoulders; while the intensity of colour and of metallic lustre dis-
played by their plumage, is not to be equalled by any other birds, except, perhaps, the
humming-birds, and is not surpassed even by these. They have been usually classified under
two distinct families, Paradiseidæ and Epimachidæ, the latter characterised by long and
slender beaks, and supposed to be allied to the Hoopoes; but the two groups are so closely
allied in every essential point of structure and habits, that I shall consider them as forming
subdivisions of one family. I will now give a short description of each of the known species,
and then add some general remarks on their natural history.
The Great Bird of Paradise (Paradisea apoda of Linnæus) is the largest species known,
being generally seventeen or eighteen inches from the beak to the tip of the tail. The body,
wings, and tail are of a rich coffee-brown, which deepens on the breast to a blackish-violet
or purple-brown. The whole top of the head and neck is of an exceedingly delicate straw-
yellow, the feathers being short and close set, so as to resemble plush or velvet; the lower
part of the throat up to the eye is clothed with scaly feathers of an emerald green colour, and
with a rich metallic gloss, and velvety plumes of a still deeper green extend in a band across
the forehead and chin as far as the eye, which is bright yellow. The beak is pale lead blue;
and the feet, which are rather large and very strong and well formed, are of a pale ashy-pink.
The two middle feathers of the tail have no webs, except a very small one at the base and at
the extreme tip, forming wire-like cirrhi, which spread out in an elegant double curve, and
vary from twenty-four to thirty-four inches long. From each side of the body, beneath the
wings, springs a dense tuft of long and delicate plumes, sometimes two feet in length, of the
most intense golden-orange colour and very glossy, but changing towards the tips into a pale
brown. This tuft of plumage can be elevated and spread out at pleasure, so as almost to con-
ceal the body of the bird.
These splendid ornaments are entirely confined to the male sex, while the female is really
a very plain and ordinary-looking bird of a uniform coffee-brown colour which never
