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BIRDS OF PARADISE

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Originally appearing in Volume V03, Page 979 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.

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BIRDS OF See also:

PARADISE (Gr. lrap6BEwos)

PARADISE , a See also:

GROUP

group of passerine birds inhabiting New See also:

GUINEA

Guinea and the adjacent islands, so named by the Dutch voyagers in allusion to the brilliancy of their plumage, and to the current belief that, possessing neither wings nor feet, they passed their lives in the See also:

air, sustained on their ample plumes, resting only at See also:

long intervals suspended from the branches of lofty trees by the See also:

WIRE (A.S. wir, a wire; cf. Swed. vire, to twist, M.H.G. wiere, a gold ornament, Lat. viriae, armlets, ultimately from the root wi, to twist, bind)

wire-like feathers of the tail, and See also:

DRAWING

drawing their See also:

food " from the dews of See also:

HEAVEN (0. Eng. hefen, heofon, heofone; this word appears in O.S. hevan; the High. Ger. word appears in Ger. Himmel, Dutch hemel; there does not seem to be any connexion between the two words, and the ultimate derivation of the word is unknown; the sugges

heaven and the See also:

NECTAR

nectar of See also:

FLOWERS, ARTIFICIAL

flowers." Such stories obtained See also:

CREDENCE, or CREDENCE TABLE

credence from the fact that so See also:

LATE

late as the See also:

YEAR

year 176o, when See also:

LINNAEUS

Linnaeus named the See also:

PRINCIPAL

principal See also:

SPECIES

species apoda, or " footless," no perfect specimen had been seen in See also:

EUROPE

Europe, the natives who sold the skins to See also:

COAST (from Lat. costa, a rib, side)

coast traders invariably depriving them of feet and wings. The birds now usually included under this name belong to the See also:

FAMILY

family Paradiseidae, closely allied to the crows. The largest is the See also:

GREAT

great See also:

EMERALD

emerald See also:

BIRD

bird (Paradisea apoda), about the See also:

SIZE

size of the See also:

COMMON

common See also:

jay. Its See also:

head and See also:

NECK (O. Eng. hnecca; the word appears in many Teutonic languages; cf. Dutch ride, Ger. Nacken; in O. E. the common word was heals; cf. Ger. Hals)

neck are covered with See also:

SHORT, FRANCIS JOB (1857– )

short thick-set feathers, resembling See also:

VELVET

velvet See also:

PILE

pile, of a See also:

bright See also:

STRAW

straw See also:

COLOUR (Lat. color, connected with celare, to hide, the root meaning, therefore, being that of a covering)

colour above, and a brilliant emerald See also:

green beneath. From under the shoulders on each See also:

side springs a dense tuft of See also:

GOLDEN

golden-See also:

orange plumes, about 2 ft. in length, which the bird can raise at See also:

PLEASURE (through Fr. plaisir from Lat. placere, to please; Gr. rlbovii)

pleasure, so as to enclose the greater See also:

PART

part of its See also:

BODY

body. The two centre tail feathers attain a length of 34 in., and, being destitute of webs, have a thin wire-like See also:

APPEARANCE (from Lat. apparere, to appear)

appearance. This splendid plumage, however, belongs only to the adult See also:

MALES

males, the See also:

FEMALES

females being exceedingly See also:

PLAIN (O. Fr. plain, from Lat. plenum)

plain birds of a nearly See also:

UNIFORM

uniform dusky See also:

brown colour, and possessing neither plumes nor lengthened tail feathers. The See also:

young males at first resemble the females, and it is only after the See also:

FOURTH

fourth moulting, according to A. R. See also:

Wallace, who has studied those birds in their native haunts, that they assume the perfect plumage of their See also:

SEX (Lat. sexes; possibly connected with secure, to cut)

sex, which, however, they retain permanently afterwards, and not during the breeding See also:

SEASON (0. Fr. seson, seison, mod. saison, Lat. satio, sowing time, the spring, from serere, to sow; in Late Lat. the word is found with its present meaning, the spring being considered as particularly the season of the year)

season only as was formerly supposed. At that season the males assemble, in See also:

numbers varying from twelve to twenty, on certain trees, and there disport themselves, so as to display their magnificent plumes in presence of the females. Wallace in his See also:

MALAY

Malay See also:

ARCHIPELAGO

Archipelago, vol. ii., thus describes the attitude of the male birds at one of those " sacaleli," or dancing parties, as the natives See also:

CALL (from Anglo-Saxon ceallian, a common Teutonic word, cf. Dutch kallen, to talk or chatter)

call them; " their wings," he says, " are raised vertically over the back, the head is See also:

bent down and stretched out, and the long plumes are raised up and See also:

EXPANDED

expanded till they See also:

FORM (Lat. forma)

form two magnificent golden fans striped with deep red at the See also:

BASE

base, and fading off into the See also:

PALE (through Fr. pal, from Lat. palms, a stake, for paglus, from the stem pag- of pangere, to fix; " pole " is from the same original source)

pale brown tint of the finely-divided and softly-waving points; the whole bird is then overshadowed by them, the crouching body, yellow head, and emerald green See also:

THROAT (O. Eng. protu, prote or }Prota, possibly from preotan, to press, whence threat, or, with loss of initial s, connected with strut, to swell)

throat, forming but the See also:

FOUNDATION (Lat. fundatio, from fundare, to found)

foundation and setting to the golden See also:

GLORY (through the O. Fr. glorie, modern gloire, from Lat. gloria, cognate with Gr. KXebs, abets)

glory which waves above." It is at this season that those birds are chiefly captured.

The bird-catcher having found a See also:

tree thus selected for a " dancing party," builds a hut among the See also:

LOWER

lower branches in which to conceal himself. As soon as the male birds have begun their graceful antics, he shoots them, one after the other, with See also:

blunt arrows, for the purpose of stunning and bringing them to the ground without drawing See also:

BLOOD

blood, which would injure their plumage; and so eager are those birds in their courtship that almost all the males are thus brought down before the danger is perceived. The natives in preparing the skins remove both feet and wings, so as to give more prominence to the commercially valuable tuft of plumes. They also remove the See also:

SKULL

skull, and the skin is then dried in a smoky hut. The great emerald bird, so far as yet known, is only found in the Aru Islands. The lesser bird of paradise (Paradisea See also:

minor), though smaller in size and somewhat less brilliant in plumage, in other respects closely resembles the preceding species. It is also more common, and much more widely distributed, being found throughout New Guinea and the neighbouring islands. Its plumes are those most generally used as ornaments for ladies' head-dresses. Both species are omnivorous, feeding voraciously on fruits and See also:

INSECTS

insects. They are strong, active birds, and are believed to be polygamous. The See also:

king bird of paradise (Cicinnurus regius) is one of the smallest and most brilliant of the group, and is specially distinguished by its two See also:

MIDDLE

middle tail feathers, the ends of which alone are webbed, and coiled into a beautiful See also:

SPIRAL

spiral disk of a lovely emerald green. In the red bird of paradise (Paradisea rubra) the same feathers are greatly elongated and destitute of webs, but differ from those in the other species, in being flattened out like See also:

RIBBONS

ribbons.

They are only found in the small See also:

ISLAND (O.E. ieg =isle, +land')

island of Waigiu off the coast of New Guinea. Of the long-billed paradise birds the most remarkable is that known as the " twelve-wired " (Seleucides See also:

ALBA

alba), its delicate yellow plumes, twelve of which are transformed into wire-like bristles nearly a See also:

FOOT

foot long, affording a striking contrast to the dark metallic tints of the See also:

REST (O. Eng. rest, reste, bed, cognate with other Teutonic forms, e.g. Ger. Rast, Riiste, rest, and probably Gothic Rasta, league, i.e. resting or stopping place)

rest of its plumage. (A.

End of Article: BIRDS OF PARADISE

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