Page:Twenty Thousand Verne Frith 1876.pdf/217

 species which are found in Papua and the neighbouring islands. This was the “Emerald” bird of paradise—one of the rarest. It measures nearly a foot in length. Its head is relatively small. Its eyes are placed near the opening of the beak, and are likewise small. But it presents a wonderful combination of colour; the beak is yellow, the feet and claws brown; hazel wings, tipped with purple at their extremities; pale yellow on the head and behind the neck; throat emerald green, and the chest and stomach is a fine maroon. Two curved and soft feathers growing above the tail, and prolonged in beautiful light and lengthy plumes of admirable softness, complete the ensemble of this wonderful bird, which the natives call the “bird of the sun.”

I was very anxious to bring back this lovely specimen to Paris, and to present it to the “Jardin des Plantes,” where there was not a living one.

“Is it, then, so very uncommon?” asked the Canadian, in the tone of a hunter who did not regard game from the artistic point of view.

“Very rare, indeed, and, above all, very difficult to catch alive; and even dead these birds are the object of much business traffic. So the natives have conceived the idea of ‘making them up,’ as people might imitate diamonds or pearls.”

“What!” exclaimed Conseil, “fabricate birds of paradise?”

“Yes, Conseil.”

“Can Monsieur explain the process?”

“Certainly. During the east monsoon these birds lose their magnificent plumage, which surrounds the tail. These are the feathers which are collected by the false