egia (the King Bird of Paradise), and since then nine
or ten others have been named, all of which were first described from
skins preserved by the savages of New Guinea, and generally more or less
imperfect. These are now all known in the Malay Archipelago as "Burong
coati," or dead birds, indicating that the Malay traders never saw them
alive.

The Paradiseidae are a group of moderate-sized birds, allied in
their structure and habits to crows, starlings, and to the Australian
honeysuckers; but they are characterised by extraordinary developments
of plumage, which are unequalled in any other family of birds. In
several species large tufts of delicate bright-coloured feathers spring
from each side of the body beneath the wings, forming trains, or fans,
or shields; and the middle feathers of the tail are often elongated into
wires, twisted into fantastic shapes, or adorned with the most brilliant
metallic tints. In another set of species these accessory plumes spring
from the head, the back, or the shoulders; while the intensity of colour
and of metallic lustre displayed by their plumage, is not to be equalled
by any other birds, except, perhaps, the humming-birds, and is not
surpassed even by these. They have been usually classified under
two distinct families, Paradiseidae and Epimachidae, the latter
characterised by long and slender beaks, and supposed to be allied to
the Hoopoes; but the two groups are so closely allied in every essential
point of structure and habits, that I shall consider them as forming
subdivisions of one family. I will now give a short description of each
of the known species, and then add some general remarks on their natural
history.

The Great Bird of Paradise (Paradisea apoda of Linnaeus) is the largest
species known, being generally seventeen or eighteen inches from the
beak to the tip of the tail. The body, wings, and tail are of a rich
coffee-brown, which deepens on the breast to a blackish-violet or
purple-brown. The whole top of the head and neck is of an exceedingly
delicate straw-yellow, the feathers being short and close set, so as
to resemble plush or velvet; the lower part of the throat up to the eye
clothed with scaly feathers of an emerald, green colour, and with a rich
metallic gloss, and velvety plumes of a still deeper green extend in
a band across the forehead and chin as far as the eye, which is bright
yellow. The beak is pale lead blue; and the feet, which are rather large