Page:Natural History, Birds.djvu/155

 plumage of the male, is clad in sombre attire. We met with them, assembled in scores, on every tree, while the males, always solitary, appeared but rarely.

"It is at the rising and setting of the sun that the Bird of Paradise goes to seek its food. In the middle of the day it remains hidden under the ample foliage of the teak-tree, and comes not forth. He seems to dread the scorching heat of the sun, and to be unwilling to expose himself to the attacks of a rival. &hellip;

"In order to shoot Birds of Paradise, travellers, who visit New Guinea, should remember that it is necessary to leave the ship early in the morning, to arrive at the foot of a teak-tree or fig-tree, which these birds frequent for the sake of their fruit, before half-past four, and to remain motionless till some of the males, urged by hunger, light upon the branches within range. It is indispensably requisite to have a gun which will carry very far with effect, and that the grains of shot should be large; for it is very difficult to kill an Emerald outright; and if he be only wounded, it is very seldom that he is not lost in thickets so dense that there is no finding the way without a compass."

In Mr. Bennett's "Wanderings in New South Wales," &c., there are many interesting details of an individual of this beautiful species, which he saw in captivity in Mr. Beale's aviary at Macao; both this specimen, and a pair which M. Lesson saw caged at Amboyna, were fed with boiled rice, and such large insects as grasshoppers and cock-roaches.