. The Malay Archipelago : the land of the oranguatan, and the bird of paradise. A narrative of travel, with studies of man and nature. Natural history; Ethnology. The Long-Tailed. 569 machus magnus),is another of these wonderful creatures, only known by the imperfect skins prepared by the natives. In its dark velvety plumage, glossed with bronze and purple, it re- sembles the Seleucides alba, but it bears a magnificent tail more than two feet long, glossed on the upper surface with the most intense opalescent blue. Its chief ornament, how- ever, consists in the group of broad plumes which spri
. The Malay Archipelago : the land of the oranguatan, and the bird of paradise. A narrative of travel, with studies of man and nature. Natural history; Ethnology. The Long-Tailed. 569 machus magnus),is another of these wonderful creatures, only known by the imperfect skins prepared by the natives. In its dark velvety plumage, glossed with bronze and purple, it re- sembles the Seleucides alba, but it bears a magnificent tail more than two feet long, glossed on the upper surface with the most intense opalescent blue. Its chief ornament, how- ever, consists in the group of broad plumes which spring from the sides of the breast, and which are dilated at the extremity, and banded with the most vivid metallic blue and green. The bill is long and curved, and the feet black, and similar to those of the allied forms. The to- tal length of this fine bird is between three and four feet. This splendid bird inhabits the mountains of ISTew Guinea, in the same district with the Superb and the Six- shafted Paradise Birds, and I was informed is sometimes found in the ranges near the coast. I was several times as- sured by different na- tives that this bird makes its nest in a hole under ground, or under rocks, always choosing a place with two apertures, so that it may enter at one and go out at the other. This is very imlike what we should suppose to be the habits of the bird, but it is not easy to conceive how the story orig- inated if it is not true ; and all travellers know that native ac- counts of the habits of animals, however strange they may seem, almost invariably turn out to be correct. The Scale-breasted Paradise Bird (Epimachus magnificus of Cuvier) is now generally placed with the Australian Rifie. THE LONG-TAILED'BIRD OF PARADISE. {JEpimacTius magnus.). Please note that these images are extracted from scanned page images that may have been digitally enhanced for readability - coloration and appearance of these illustrations may not perfectly resemble the original work.
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, booksubjectethnology, booksubjectnaturalhistory
