PARADISEKA APODA, Linn.

The Greater Bird of Paradise.

The Greater Bird of Paradise, Edwards, Birds, iii. pl. 110.

L’ Oiseau de Paradis, Brisson, Orn. ii. p. 130, pl. xiii.

Paradisea apoda, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 166.—Wagler, Syst. Av., Paradisea, sp. 1.—Bonap. Consp. Gen. Av. i.
p. 412.—Gray, P. Z.S. 1861, p- 436.—Wallace, Ibis, 1859, p. 111; 1861, p. 289.—Schlegel, Mus. Bae
Bas, Coraces, p. 78.—Wallace, Malay Archip. ii. p. 238.—Gray, Handl. B. ii. p. 16.—Elliot Monogr.
Parad. pl i—Salvad. Ann. Mus. Civic. Genov. ix. p. 191.—Sharpe, Cat. B. iii. ee llGre :

Paradisea major, Shaw, Gen. Zool. vii. p. 480, pl. 58.—Less. Ois. de Paradis, Synopsis, p. 6.—Id. Hist. Nat.
p. 155, pl. 6.

Paradisea apoda, var. wallaciana, Gray, P.Z. S. 1858, p. 181.

I Have in my collection some skins of this splendid bird which would justify the specific name of apoda bestowed
upon it by Linneeus; and I suspect that nearly every one of the specimens in public collections mounted
before the last twenty years would be found to have other birds’ feet attached to them instead of their own
proper appendages. The reason is that, until very recently, all the skins of the Great Bird of Paradise
urope were in a mutilated condition—generally without feet, and often without WING'S 5
and I well remember the admiration which was roused by the ar
examples, and the interest which the exhibition of Mr. Bartlett’s
first exhibited in the British Museum.

which reached E

rival of Mr. Wallace’s beautiful perfect
mounted specimen excited, when it was
Now that complete skins are the rule, and badly prepared ones the
exception, it is interesting to glance at the past history of the species, and to peruse the accounts of the first
describers of its remarkable plumage. ‘* When the earliest European voyagers,” writes Mr. Wallace, in his
‘Malay Archipelago,’ “reached the Moluccas in search of cloves and nutmeg’s, which were then rare and
precious spices, they were presented with the dried skins of birds so strange and beautiful as to excite the
admiration even of those wealth-seeking rovers. The Malay traders gave them the name of ‘Manuk
dewater ’ (or God’s birds) ; and the Portuguese, finding that they had no feet or wings, and not being able to
learn any thing authentic about them, called them ‘ Passaros de Sol’ (or Birds of the Sun) ; while the learned
Dutchmen, who wrote in Latin, called them ‘ Avis paradiseus’ (or Paradise-bird). John van Linschoten
gives these names in 1598, and tells us that no one has seen these birds alive; for they live in the air, always
turning towards the sun, and never lighting on the earth till they die; for they have neither feet nor wings,
as, he adds, may be seen by the birds carried to India, and sometimes to Holland; but being very costly they
are rarely seen in Europe. More than a hundred years later Mr. William Funnel, who accompanied Dampier,
and wrote an account of the voyage, saw specimens at Amboyna, and was told that they came to Banda to
eat nutmegs, which intoxicated them, and made them fall down senseless, when they were killed by ants.
Down to 1760, when Linnzus named the largest species Paradisea apoda (the footless Paradise-bird), no
perfect specimen had been seen in Europe, and absolutely nothing was known about them. And even now,
a hundred years later, most books state that they migrate annually to Ternate, Banda, and Amboyna,
whereas the fact is that they are as completely unknown in these islands in a wild state as they are in England.”
I may remark that Edwards had probably a complete specimen in 1750, as he mentions the figures in the
older authors, such as Willughby, and remarks, ‘‘ As none of these were satisfactory to me, I have given this
heure and description of a perfect bird, which may more than answer the purposes of so many;” and
again :-—Tt hath legs and feet of a moderate proportion and strength for its bigness, pees much like those
of Pyes or Jays, of a dark brown colour, armed with claws of middling strength.” The fact remains, how-
ever, that the vast majority of skins received in Europe before Mr. Wallace’s expedition, were mutilated and
footless. He writes :—‘ The native mode of preserving them is to cut off the wings and feet, and then skin
the body up to the beak, taking out the skulls. A stout stick is then run up through ae specimen, coming
out at the mouth. Round this some leaves are stuffed, and the whole is wrapped up in a palm-spathe and
dried in the smoky hut. By this plan the head, which is really large, is shrunk up almost to nothing, the
body is much reduced and shortened, and the greatest prominence is given to the flowing plumage. Pome
of these native skins are very clean, and often have wings and feet left on; others are dreadfully stained with

2 is soca pacman i ate ery >
smoke; and all give a most erroneous idea of the proportions of the living bird. The following notes on