Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 5.djvu/583

Rh color. The female is wholly of a drab-color, without tuft or wing-shafts.

The Magnificent Bird-of-Paradise (Diphyllodes speciosa, Boddaert) is about as large as a thrush. The head, back, tail, and primary wing-feathers, are dark-brown; the other wing-feathers, yellowish-brown. The breast and belly are of a beautiful purplish green. A circular tuft extends over the hind-neck and shoulders, and is, in the upper part, light yellow, and in the lower parts brown; this double tuft, on account of its resemblance to leaves, gives to the bird its generic name. The tail is about two inches long, and from its upper part arise two thread-like feathers about ten inches in length, each coiled in a circle about three inches in diameter. The shafts of these feathers have, on one side, a narrow web about one-sixteenth of an inch wide, of a beautiful green or violet tint, according to the direction of the light.



The Long-tailed Paradise-Bird (Epimachus magnus) has a tail more than two feet long. It is sometimes called the Superb Plume-Bird, and, with the next species, is included in the same family as the hoopoes. It is a native of New Guinea, and is a most beautiful and lovely creature. Lesson says: "To add to the singularity of this bird, Nature has placed above and below its wings feathers of an extraordinary form, and such as one does not see in other birds; she seems, moreover, to have pleased herself in painting this being, already so singular, with her most brilliant colors. The head, neck, and belly, are glittering green; the feathers which cover these parts possess the lustre and softness of velvet to the eye and touch; the back is changeable violet; the wings are of the same color, and appear, according to the lights in which they are held, blue, violet, or deep black, always, however, imitating velvet. The tail is composed of