Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
The Golden, or Six-shafted Paradise Bird, is another rare species, first figured by Buffon,
and never yet obtained in perfect condition. It was named by Boddaert, Paradisea sexpennis,
and forms the genus Parotia of Viellot. This wonderful bird is about the size of the female
Paradisea rubra. The plumage appears at first sight black, but it glows in certain lights with
bronze and deep purple. The throat and breast are scaled with broad flat feathers of an in-
tense golden hue, changing to green and blue tints in certain lights. On the back of the head
is a broad recurved band of feathers, whose brilliancy is indescribable, resembling the sheen
of emerald and topaz rather than any organic substance. Over the forehead is a large patch of
pure white feathers, which shine like satin; and from the sides of the head spring the six
wonderful feathers from which the bird receives its name. These are slender wires, six
inches long, with a small oval web at the extremity. In addition to these ornaments, there is
also an immense tuft of soft feathers on each side of the breast, which when elevated must
entirely hide the wings, and give the bird an appearance of being double its real bulk. The
bill is black, short, and rather compressed, with the feathers advancing over the nostrils, as
in Cicinnurus regius. This singular and brilliant bird inhabits the same region as the Superb
Bird of Paradise, and nothing whatever is known about it but what we can derive from an
examination of the skins preserved by the natives of New Guinea.
