ew kinds, and how many
sorts there may be which have so far eluded the few and short visits of
naturalists, no one is able to tell. Even of those we have, how scanty
is our knowledge! What they eat we are told; how they bathe and dress
their plumage; their loud calls and unmusical voices; the shyness of
those whose conspicuous beauty sets a price upon their heads, and their
"dancing parties," so graphically described by Wallace; but of their
nesting we are in profound ignorance. Where the gravely dressed partners
of the brilliant creatures set up the hearthstone none can tell, unless
it be the mop-headed Papuan, and he will not.

The colors lavished on the plumage would alone make the Birds of
Paradise the wonder of the world; exquisite tints not surpassed by the
humming-birds themselves, and of almost infinite variety, from the
richest velvety purple to the gorgeous metallic greens, blues, and
yellows, changing with every motion, and glittering in the sun like
gems. But the marvelous freaks in the arrangement of the plumage are
more specially interesting. So extraordinary a variety of forms, so
unique and fantastic in disposal, are without parallel in the animal
world. Some species are adorned with long, drooping tufts of plumes
light as air, as the Red Bird of Paradise, and others bear
strange-shaped, movable shields; part of the family wear ruffs, and
others display fans on shoulders or breast; a few sport extravagant
length of tail, and one or two show bright-hued wattles; one species is
bare-headed, and--other vagaries being exhausted--two have curls. The
greater number have an unusual development of two or more feathers into
long, wire-like objects, with a patch of web at the ends. In one species
these wires are formed into two perfect circles beyond the end of the
tail; in another they cross each other in a graceful double curve, and
in a third stand straight and stiff from the end of the feathers. The
Sexpennis, or Golden Bird of Paradise, has on the head six of these
shafts, which it erects at pleasure, producing a singular appearance;
and the Standard Wing has two on each wing, equally effective. Perhaps
the most peculiar fact about the family is the power each bird possesses
to change its form by means of these eccentric ornaments. All are
erectile and movable in several ways, and a bird that is at one moment
like our common crow in shape, may in the next show a dazzling array of
waving plumes or vibrating fa