d two adult males of this species in Singapore; and as they seemed
healthy, and fed voraciously on rice, bananas, and cockroaches, I
determined on giving the very high price asked for them--L100.--and to
bring them to England by the overland route under my own care. On my way
home I stayed a week at Bombay, to break the journey, and to lay in a
fresh stock of bananas for my birds. I had great difficulty, however,
in supplying them with insect food, for in the Peninsular and Oriental
steamers cockroaches were scarce, and it was only by setting traps in
the store-rooms, and by hunting an hour every night in the forecastle,
that I could secure a few dozen of these creatures,--scarcely enough
for a single meal. At Malta, where I stayed a fortnight, I got plenty
of cockroaches from a bake-house, and when I left, took with me several
biscuit-tins' full, as provision for the voyage home. We came through
the Mediterranean in March, with a very cold wind; and the only place on
board the mail-steamer where their large cage could be accommodated was
exposed to a strong current of air down a hatchway which stood open day
and night, yet the birds never seemed to feel the cold. During the night
journey from Marseilles to Paris it was a sharp frost; yet they arrived
in London in perfect health, and lived in the Zoological Gardens for
one, and two years, often displaying their beautiful plumes to the
admiration of the spectators. It is evident, therefore, that the
Paradise Birds are very hardy, and require air and exercise rather
than heat; and I feel sure that if a good sized conservators` could
be devoted to them, or if they could be turned loose in the tropical
department of the Crystal Palace or the Great Palm House at Kew, they
would live in this country for many years.

The Red Bird of Paradise (Paradisea rubra of Viellot), though allied to
the two birds already described, is much more distinct from them than
they are from each other. It is about the same size as Paradisea papuana
(13 to 14 inches long), but differs from it in many particulars. The
side plumes, instead of being yellow, are rich crimson, and only extend
about three or four inches beyond the end of the tail; they are somewhat
rigid, and the ends are curved downwards and inwards, and are tipped
with white. The two middle tail feathers, instead of being simply
elongated and deprived of their webs, are transformed into stiff black
ribands, a quarter of an inch wide, bu