OF PARADISE, or PARA DIS/EID2B, a family of birds of New Guinea, northern Australia, and the neighboring islands, which contains a large number of species, notable for splendid plumage, although they are most nearly allied to the plainly dressed crows. The name "bird of paradise' is a transla tion of the native name in the island of Batchian,. "manulcdewata,* meaning birds of the gods. About SO species of these birds are known, varying in size from that of a crow to that of a sparrow; all are forest birds, spend ing their lives in the tree-tops, where many of them go about in small flocks, active and noisy, but are inclined to hide themselves in the thickest foliage, as though aware that their plumage rendered' them easily conspicuous to their enemies. None are singers, and in most cases the voice is a loud, harsh cry, or a sharp whistle, or in some species, strange mewing notes. It is related that on some of the islands certain species were called "birds of the sun' because of their habit of joining in loud chi. ruses at sunrise. Their diet consists mainly of fruit, and especially of berries and seeds; the fig and the nutmeg are especially eaten, and some species suck honey from the large tropical flowers. Insects are captured by all species, as also are the numerous snails mhabiting the trees and bushes of that region, and the larger forms devour frogs and lizards. In pursuit of insects, worms and snails, several species spend much of their time scrambling about the trunks of trees and searching the bark, like creepers. The breeding habits of these birds vary exten sively, and the nests and eggs of many have not yet been discovered. The typical paradise birds construct rather loose, careless platforms of sticks and leaves, moss, etc., placed in trees or bushes, and lay eggs which are much streaked and spotted, and vary in color and patterns. The very extraordinary nests and play-grounds of that section of the family which is terrestrial, and inhabits Australia, are described under bower-birds (q.v.). Many recent authorities place these in a distinct family, the Ptilenorhyncidie.
Interest in the birds of paradise centres in their marvelous displays of plumage These are exhibited in most species by the male alone, the female being comparatively plain and simple in her attire, as also are the young of both sexes, until the young males arrive at maturity.
This dissimilarity between the females and males of birds, of which the latter are highly adorned, is a protective arrangement, designed to keep the females from observation while they are sitting defenseless upon their nests, where they would easily be discovered, and often killed, did they wear the conspicuous colors and ornaments of their brilliant mates. Natural selection, by their colors, and those of the inexperienced and comparatively helpless ones plain, has tended to pre serve the species; and at the time when the females are brooding their mates remain at a discreet distance from the nests, so as not to betray their position to the monkeys, lemurs, civets, serpents and other searchers for eggs and fledglings. The same influence, acting through sexual selection (q.v.), has developed in the males the bright colors and eccentric adornments which distinguish this group of birds as a means of increasing their attractive ness in the eyes of the females. The theory is that the most beautiful male will be chosen first as a mate, and will transmit to its offspring its tendency toward ornamentation or high color, and that thus, by constant rivalry between the males, the excessive ornamentation in this group has slowly arisen. A justification for this view is found in the fact that in the courting season, which occurs at the opening of the rainy season, numbers of males of each species gather in certain spots, sometimes on the ground, but more usually on the limbs of the forest trees, and go a great variety of movements and strange antics, lifting their wings, spreading their tails, erecting their crests and apparently doing everything in their power to display their finery in the eyes of the females, and thus solicit them to make a choice. Natives call these assemblages, which usually occur at sunrise, and always in the same place, 'dancing parties,* and it is during this time that they secure specimens for the trade, by shooting them from ambush with blunt arrows. So persistent has been the demand for their skins and feathers, chiefly for millinery purposes, that many of the species have been nearly exterminated. This may easily occur from the fact that the range of most of the birds of paradise is very limited, several species being confined to a single island. Their increase, too, is slow, as most of them lay only two or three eggs, a condition which has arisen from the fact that their natural enemies are comparatively few. They have occasionally been captured alive, and kept for a time in captivity, even in the zoological gardens of Europe, but they do not thrive in confine fnent. The best-known of the birds of paradise
is the great emerald paradise bird (Paradirea epodes) of the Moluccas which was brought to Europe first in 1523, by the members of Magel lan's company, on their return from the first circumnavigation of the world. They brought two dead specimens which had been given to them in the island of Batchian as a mark of royal favor. From these skins the natives, as was their custom, had cut off both the wings and the feet; and this gave rise to the absurd stores of the early books, that the paradise birds were naturally footless and wingless, never perched, suspended themselves by the tail-feathers, etc. It was also said that they gazed perpetually at the sun, and that the hen laid her eggs on the back of her spouse. This species is as large as a crow. The male is rich brown, becoming purplish beneath; the head and neck are pale yellow, the forehead, cheeks and throat metallic green. From the sides of the body, beneath the wings, spring thick tufts of delicate, loosely-webbed, golden-orange feathers, which, when the wings are lifted, may be lifted and spread out so as to seem to fall like a shower over the whole bird; and the two middle tail-feathers are like long wires each with a very slight flag-like web at the tip. It would be impossible to describe at length the great variety and splendor of the plumage of these eccentrically ornate birds, only a few of which may be further alluded to. In the red bird of paradise (Paradises sanguinea) the i plumage is like velvet in a variety of gorgeous colors, and the tufts in the sides are rich crimson, while the elegantly curling central tail shafts are 21 inches in length. A genus of New Guinea (Cincinnurus) includes a number of species, only about six inches long, called the king birds of paradise, which are distinguished by ra large tufts of fan-like plumes on each side of the breast. Another genus (Porotia) has as its especial ornament a group of three long feathers springing from behind each eye, which are in the form of metallic wires, with a racket-like web at the end that may be erected and moved about as the bird wishes. Other wise the plumage is black, except for some vivid steel-green and white feathers about the head. Some species have a distinct shield of metallic, scale-like feathers upon the back or upon the breast, which may be glossy blue, or green, or violet, or glowing scarlet, or a mixture of these. The acme of this strange and gorgeous devel ment in plumage seems to be attained by the "superb* bird of paradise (Lophorhina .cu perba), which is characterized by the presence of an enormous erectile forked shield of vel vety black feathers arising from the nape of the neck, and when in repose lying flatly on the back. So strange and apparently incongruous is this shield, that it might suggest to the be holder that the tail of some other bird had been stuck on to the skin, were it not that its feathers are of a different type. The ground color of the plumage is of the deepest black, but with bronze reflections on the neck; while the feathers of the head are metallic green and blue. Spreading over the breast is a shield composed of narrow and rather stiff feathers, which extends in a pointed form, along each side, and is emarginate in the middle, In color, this is bluish-green, with a satiny sheen; the back shield, on the other hand, is velvety black, with reflections of bronze and purple, its outer most feathers the primaries of the wing in length. The natives say that the enor mous crest, when displayed during the courtship of the female, is not only raised, but spread widely out, in a fan-like manner, while the chest shield is similarly expanded. Hence the head of the bird forms a circle of irregular feathers of velvety black and emerald, com pletely concealing the rest of the body when viewed from the front.
The name, °bird of paradise,' has also been applied to Miluvius forcatus, the "scissor-tails of Central America, Mexico and some of the Southern States.
General information as to the birds of para dise will be found in books of East Indian travel, especially in The Malay Archipelago' (1869), by Alfred Russell Wallace, the first naturalist to study these birds attentively in their native haunts. As early as 1873, Daniel Elliot completed a magnificent monograph of the family illustrated with colored folio plates, and in 1881 was published a second monograph, by Salvatori, as a part of his general work on the ornithology of the Papuan region. Still more recently German naturalists . have in creased our knowledge of this family by many papers in German scientific periodicals, which have been utilized by Rothschild in the prepara tion of his account of these birds in 'Das Tier reich' (Berlin 1898). The most recent sketches are those of the (Royal Natural History' (London 1895), and Evans 'Birds' (London 1900). See also an article hy A. Menegaux in the Revue Frantwise d'Ortutkologie, Year V, No. 48.