is certainly not
found in any of the parts of New Guinea visited by the Malay and Bugis
traders, nor in any of the other islands where Birds of Paradise are
obtained. But this is by no means conclusive evidence, for it is only in
certain localities that the natives prepare skins, and in other places
the same birds may be abundant without ever becoming known. It is
therefore quite possible that this species may inhabit the great
southern mass of New Guinea, from which Aru has been separated;
while its near ally, which I shall next describe, is confined to the
north-western peninsula.

The Lesser Bird of Paradise (Paradisea papuana of Bechstein), "Le petit
Emeraude" of French authors, is a much smaller bird than the preceding,
although very similar to it. It differs in its lighter brown colour, not
becoming darker or purpled on the breast; in the extension of the yellow
colour all over the upper part of the back and on the wing coverts;
in the lighter yellow of the side plumes, which have only a tinge of
orange, and at the tips are nearly pure white; and in the comparative
shortness of the tail cirrhi. The female differs remarkably front
the same sex in Paradisea apoda, by being entirely white on the under
surface of the body, and is thus a much handsomer bird. The young males
are similarly coloured, and as they grow older they change to brown,
and go through the same stages in acquiring the perfect plumage as has
already been described in the allied species. It is this bird which is
most commonly used in ladies' head-dresses in this country, and also
forms an important article of commerce in the East.

The Paradisea papuana has a comparatively wide range, being the common
species on the mainland of New Guinea, as well as on the islands of
Mysol, Salwatty, Jobie, Biak and Sook. On the south coast of New
Guinea, the Dutch naturalist, Muller, found it at the Oetanata river in
longitude 136 deg. E. I obtained it myself at Dorey; and the captain of the
Dutch steamer Etna informed me that he had seen the feathers among the
natives of Humboldt Bay, in 141 deg. E. longitude. It is very probable,
therefore, that it ranges over the whole of the mainland of New Guinea.

The true Paradise Birds are omnivorous, feeding on fruits and
insects--of the former preferring the small figs; of the latter,
grasshoppers, locusts, and phasmas, as well as cockroaches and
caterpillars. When I returned home, in 1862, I was so fortunate as to
fin