Page:Natural History, Birds.djvu/152

Rh troops, assemble upon the tops of the highest trees in the forests, and all cry together to call the males. These last are always alone in the midst of some fifteen females, which compose their seraglio, after the manner of the gallinaceous birds." M. Lesson, after remarking that the number of birds brought to the ship by the natives was so great as to make it probable that they are very abundant, proceeds thus:—

"The Manucode (Cincinnurus regius, .) presented itself twice in our shooting excursions, and we killed the male and female. This species would seem to be monogamous, or perhaps it is only separated into pairs at the period of laying. In the woods this bird has no brilliancy; its fine coloured plumage is not discovered, and the tints of the female are dull. It loves to take its station on the teak trees, whose ample foliage shelters it, and whose small fruit forms its nourishment.

"Soon after my arrival in this land of promise for the naturalist [New Guinea], I was on a shooting excursion. Scarcely had I walked some hundred paces in those ancient forests, the daughters of time, whose sombre depth was perhaps the most magnificent and stately sight that I had ever seen,–when a Bird of Paradise struck my view; it flew gracefully, and in undulations; the feathers of its sides formed an elegant and aerial plume, which, without exaggeration, bore no remote resemblance to a brilliant meteor. Surprised, astounded, enjoying an inexpressible gratification, I devoured this splendid bird with my eyes; but my emotion was so great that I forgot to shoot at it, and did not recollect that I had a gun in my hand till it was far away.