Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 5.djvu/575

Rh had one at Macao, China, that had been in captivity nine years; several have been kept at Amboyna, but very few have ever been carried to Europe, although specimens of the skins and prepared birds were taken there more than 300 years ago. Anthony Pigafetta, one of the companions of Magellan, first imported them into Europe in 1522.

In form and size they somewhat resemble our crow, or blue-jay; but some are smaller. They are usually included in the tribe of cone-bills, though their bills are quite slender for that group, and a little compressed. The bills are covered at the base with downy or velvety feathers, which extend over the nostrils: their wings are long and round; the tail consists of ten feathers, two of them, in some species, very long; legs and feet very long, large, and strong; outer toe longer than inner, and joined to the middle one toward the base; hind-toe very long; claws long and curved. But they are chiefly remarkable for the wonderful development of various parts of their plumage, and for the metallic splendor of its rich hues. The sides of the body, and sometimes of the head, neck, breast, or tail, are ornamented with lengthened, peculiarly developed, and showy feathers. Says Wood: "In all the species, the feathers glow with resplendent radiance; in nearly all there is some strange and altogether unique arrangement of the plumage; and, in many, the feathers are modified into plumes, ribbons, and streamers, that produce the most surprising and lovely effects." The plumage of the face, breast, and throat, is usually the richest in metallic tints, while other parts frequently have very beautiful and brilliant colors.

Their food consists of grasshoppers, butterflies, moths, and other insects; figs, the berries of various trees and shrubs; seeds, rice, and other kinds of grain. During the heat of the day they remain concealed in the woods, but, in the morning and evening, come forth to seek their food. Furious storms frequently bring them to the ground, when they are easily taken by the natives, who also shoot them with blunt arrows, or take them with a noose, likewise with bird-lime, or other glutinous substance, placed on the branches which they frequent. They sometimes stupefy them with cocculus indicus. Europeans shoot them with shot-guns. The natives formerly skinned the birds, cut off the legs and wings, and dried the skin on a stick. Later they took out the interior organs of the bird, cut off the legs, and smoked the birds with sulphur, or seared them inside with a hot iron; and, after being thoroughly dried, they put them in the hollow of a bamboo, to secure the plumage from injury. They are used by the natives, the Japanese, Chinese, East Indians, and Persians, for adorning the turbans of the men, the head-dresses of the women, and for various other purposes of ornament. The Chinese make imitations of these birds from the feathers of parrots and paroquets, to sell to strangers. The feathers were formerly, and are still, used very much as ostrich-feathers are. By their lightness and lustre, they are extremely well suited for the