for all His arrangements, and
I think it is allowable for us to conjecture what that reason may be;
but though we cannot find it out, we may be very sure the reason
exists."

We had been walking on through the forest, when one of our hunters made
a sign to us to stop, and he advanced cautiously. We saw him raise his
bow and let fly an arrow. Down fell a small bird rather larger than a
thrush, the plumage as we saw it falling being of the most intense
cinnabar red with the softest and most lovely gloss. Mr Hooker ran
forward in the greatest state of agitation I had ever seen him exhibit,
and kneeling down, gradually lifted up the bird. Had he discovered a
nugget of gold of the same size, he could not have appeared more
delighted. The feathers of the head were short and velvety, and shaded
into a rich orange beneath. From the breast downwards the body was like
the softest white gloss silk, while across the breast a band of deep
metallic-green separated it from the red throat. Above each eye was a
round spot, also of metallic-green. The bill was yellow, and the feet
and legs were of a fine cobalt-blue, forming a striking contrast with
the other parts of the body. On each side of the breast, concealed
under the wings, were tufts of grey feathers, about two inches in
length, terminated by a broad band of deep emerald-green. These plumes
are raised, as in the other species we saw, into a pair of elegant fans
when the wings are elevated. Besides these beautiful ornaments, there
were in the middle of the tail two feathers like slender wires, about
five inches long, diverging into a double curve. The end of these wires
are webbed on the outer side, and covered with a fine metallic-green; so
that the bird appears to have two elegant glittering circles hanging
about five inches from the body, and the same distance apart.

It was some time before our kind friend could recover himself.

"Is it not beautiful? is it not beautiful?" he kept exclaiming as he
held it up, still kneeling on the ground and exhibiting its various
beauties. "Walter, I tell you that this is the most beautiful of the
eight thousand different kinds of birds which our beneficent Creator has
placed on this earth, to adorn it for the sake of us mortals. Not one
of them possesses these spiral-tipped tail wires nor these beautiful
breast fans. Then look at the colours. What art can in any way
approach them! This is the King Bird of Paradise--the _