r, the very first
time I went into the forest I not only heard but saw them, and was
convinced there were plenty about; but they were very shy, and it was
some time before we got any. My hunter first shot a female, and I one
day got very close to a fine male. He was, as I expected, the rare red
species, Paradisea rubra, which alone inhabits this island, and is found
nowhere else. He was quite low down, running along a bough searching
for insects, almost like a woodpecker, and the long black riband-like
filaments in his tail hung down in the most graceful double curve
imaginable. I covered him with my gun, and was going to use the barrel
which had a very small charge of powder and number eight shot, so as
not to injure his plumage, but the gun missed fire, and he was off in an
instant among the thickest jungle. Another day we saw no less than eight
fine males at different times, and fired four times at them; but though
other birds at the same distance almost always dropped, these all got
away, and I began to think we were not to get this magnificent species.
At length the fruit ripened on the fig-tree close by my house, and many
birds came to feed on it; and one morning, as I was taking my coffee, a
male Paradise Bird was seen to settle on its top. I seized my gun, ran
under the tree, and, gazing up, could see it flying across from branch
to branch, seizing a fruit here and another there, and then, before I
could get a sufficient aim to shoot at such a height (for it was one of
the loftiest trees of the tropics), it was away into the forest. They
now visited the tree every morning; but they stayed so short a time,
their motions were so rapid, and it was so difficult to see them, owing
to the lower trees, which impeded the view, that it was only after
several days' watching, and one or two misses, that I brought down my
bird--a male in the most magnificent plumage.

This bird differs very much from the two large species which I had
already obtained, and, although it wants the grace imparted by their
long golden trains, is in many respects more remarkable and more
beautiful. The head, back, and shoulders are clothed with a richer
yellow, the deep metallic green colour of the throat extends further
over the head, and the feathers are elongated on the forehead into two
little erectile crests. The side plumes are shorter, but are of a
rich red colour, terminating in delicate white points, and the middle
tail-feathers are repr