BIRD OF PARADISE, the common name of the family of birds, paradiscider of orni thologists, found chiefly in New Guinea and neighboring isluds, and remarkable for splendor of plumage. In all other respects, however, they are very closely allied to the crow-family, corvidce (q.v.), to which they exhibit a great similarity. not only in the characters of the bill, feet, etc., and in general form, but also in their habits, and even in their voice. They have been the subject of many fables. The state in which their skins are usually exported from their native islands, gave rise to the notion that they were destitute. of feet; and free scope being allowed to fancy, it became the prevalent belief that they spent their whole lives floating in the air, except when perhaps they suspended themselves for a little by their long tail-filaments from the uppermost branches of trees. As for their food, it was supposed to be either mere dew and vapors, or nectar obtained from the flowers of trees, climbers, and plants growing on the branches of trees, in the high regions of bright sunshine above the shade of the tropical forests. Antony Pigafetta, indeed, who accompanied Magellan in his voyage round the world, described them as having legs, and stated that these were cut o1 as useless in the preparation of the skins; but his statement was not credited, and Aldrovandus went the length of accusing him of an audacious falsehood. It would seem that the fables concerning the birds of P. are in part to be ascribed to the desire of the inhabi tants of those islands in which they are found to increase the value of their skins as an article of merchandise; and a sort of sacred character being attached to them, they were employed not merely for ornament, but as a charm to secure the life of the wearer against the dangers of battle. The people of Termite call them ilfanaco-Deleata, or birda of God; which name Baron modified into manucode. In different languages they are known by names signifying birds of the air, birds of the sun, etc.
The males alone are birds of splendid plumage, that of the females possessing nei ther brilliancy of colors nor remarkable development. The plumage of the males is not only characterized by great brightness of tints, but by a glossy velvety appearance. metallic luster, and a singularly beautiful piny of colors. Tufts of feathers generally
grow from the shoulders, and these, in some of the kinds, are prolonged so as to corer the wings; in the species sometimes called the common B. of P., and sometimes the great emerald B. of P. (paradiva apnda), the prolongation of these shoulder tufts is so great that they extend far beyond the body, and even far beyond the tail. They con stitute the magnificent part of the well-known B. of P. plumes. They are exquisitely light and delicate. It has been supposed that they may be of use to the creature in i enabling t, with less exertion of wing, to float in the air, but this notion is perhaps ficiently confuted by the total absence of them in the species, there are elongated feathers on the back of the neck, which the bird can erect, and even in some measure throw forward at pleasUre; and these, in the genus tophorinit, assume a form resembling that of a pair of outspread wings, and rise far above the head. The tail is. in general, not unlike that of a crow in its shape; but in many species there arise, from the rump, at the sides of the tai), two very long feathers, or rather filaments, covered with :t sort of velvety down: of these, the common B. of P. affords an example. In the king B. of P. (cincinuurus regiux), these long tail-filaments terminate in a sort of disk. as the tail-feathers of the peacock do.
Eirds of P. are, in general, more or less gregarioits. They sometimes pass in flocks from one island to another, according to the change of seasons, from the dry to the wet monsoon. Owing to their plumage, they fly more easily against than with the wind, and hy high winds they are sometimes thrown to the ground. They are lively and active, and in confinement pert and bold. They bestow great care upon their plumage, and sit always upon the perches of the cage, so that no part of it may reach the floor, or get in the least degree soiled. It has seldom been found possible to bring them alive to Europe, and they seem very incapable of enduring any other than a tropical climate. In confinement, they are easily fed on rice, insects. etc. In a wild state, their food consists in great part of the fruit of the teak-tree, and of different species of fig, and also of the large butterflies which abound in their native islands.