It is impossible, in a brief article, to describe the bewildering variety and splendor of these astonishing birds, three of which are shown in the accompanying colored plate. The plumage of the males is characterized not only by great brightness, but by a glossy, velvety appearance, a metallic lustre, and a singularly beautiful play of colors. Tufts of feathers generally grow from the shoulders, and these, in some of the kinds, are prolonged so as to cover the wings; in the great emerald bird of paradise (I'aradisea apoda), the prolongation of these shoulder-tufts is so great that they extend far beyond the body, and even far beyond the tail. They constitute the magnificent part of the well-known bird-of paradise plumes, many of which, however, are derived from other related species, as Pizradisca illustrated in the plate; theyean he erected so as to seem to fall in a shower over the whole bird. A peculiarity of many species is the pres ence of very long feathers, which consist almost wholly of the central shaft, with little or no vanes, and which curl and glisten like pliant wires. The twel•e-wired Sclencides nigrieans of New Guinea is a remarkable example of this; here they spring from the flanks, but they may be produced from the tail, wings, or head. The figure of the six-shafted bird of paradise (Paro tia scfilata) in the plate is another example.
Its plumes may he raised and lowered as the bird wills, and D'Albertis gives a long account of how one magnicieently burnished male of this kind displayed all his glittering armature, one day. in a forest glade. for the delectation of admiring companions. Among the smallest of all is the third species illustrated, the king bird of para dise (Cincinnurus regins). It measures only about six and one-half inches in length, and the prevailing (colo•s are velvety red, with the erec tile, fan-like plumes on the sides purplish, tipped with green, and the under parts white, separated from the red throat by a green go•get. Those who wish to acquaint themselves further with these splendid birds, of which Thoreau said: "Na ture made them pure feathers to show what she could do in that line," should examine the colored life-size plates in Elliott's Monograph of the fancily, and in Lesson's earlier monograph. entitled 0 isoa ox de Paradis et dcs Epimaques (Paris, IS35) ; also the plates of the Voyage of the Marciccsa, and the writings of A. II. Wallace. especially his Malay Archi pelago (New York, ISO), of Dr. Guillemard, D'Albertis, Salvadori, Hunstein, and other Euro pan explorers of the Papuan Archipelago. A somewhat extended popular account will be found in Royal Natural History, Vol. Ill., pp. 329-40.