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This bird, frequents the lower trees of the forests, and, like most Paradise Birds, is in constant motion flying from branch to branch, clinging to the twigs and even to the smooth and vertical trunks almost as easily as a woodpecker. It continually utters a harsh, creaking note, somewhat intermediate between that of Paradisea apoda, and the more musical cry of Cicinnurus regius.
It often flutters its wings and displays the beautiful fan which adorns its breast, while the star-bearing tail wires diverge in an elegant double curve. It is tolerably plentiful in the Aru Islands, which led to it, being brought to Europe at an early period along with Paradisea apoda. It also occurs in the island of Mysol and in every part of New Guinea which has been visited by naturalists.
A fine specimen of this genus, mounted in the position described by Wallace as the "dancing" attitude of P. Apoda, the floating plumes elevated in a "golden glory" above the head, is the gem of the collection in the American Museum of New York. It resembles the Great Bird of Paradise, having long, airy plumes springing from under each wing.
Paradisea apoda, barbless feathers in the tail of; plumage of; and P. papuana; divergence of the females of; increase of beauty with age. Paradisea papuana, plumage of. Paraguay, Indians of, eradication of eyebrows and eyelashes by. Parallelism of development of species and languages.
The female differs remarkably front the same sex in Paradisea apoda, by being entirely white on the under surface of the body, and is thus a much handsomer bird. The young males are similarly coloured, and as they grow older they change to brown, and go through the same stages in acquiring the perfect plumage as has already been described in the allied species.
Wallace, A.R., on the origin of man; on the power of imitation in man; on the use of missiles by the orang; on the varying appreciation of truth among different tribes; on the limits of natural selection in man; on the occurrence of remorse among savages; on the effects of natural selection on civilised nations; on the use of the convergence of the hair at the elbow in the orang; on the contrast in the characters of the Malays and Papuans; on the line of separation between the Papuans and Malays; on the birds of paradise; on the sexes of Ornithoptera Croesus; on protective resemblances; on the relative sizes of the sexes of insects; on Elaphomyia; on the pugnacity of the males of Leptorhynchus angustatus; on sounds produced by Euchirus longimanus; on the colours of Diadema; on Kallima; on the protective colouring of moths; on bright coloration as protective in butterflies; on variability in the Papilionidae; on male and female butterflies, inhabiting different stations; on the protective nature of the dull colouring of female butterflies; on mimicry in butterflies; on the bright colours of caterpillars; on brightly-coloured fishes frequenting reefs; on the coral snakes; on Paradisea apoda; on the display of plumage by male birds of paradise; on assemblies of birds of paradise; on the instability of the ocellated spots in Hipparchia Janira; on sexually limited inheritance; on the sexual coloration of birds; on the relation between the colours and nidification of birds; on the coloration of the Cotingidae; on the females of Paradisea apoda and papuana; on the incubation of the cassowary; on protective coloration in birds; on the Babirusa; on the markings of the tiger; on the beards of the Papuans; on the hair of the Papuans; on the distribution of hair on the human body.
They first appear as two ordinary feathers, rather shorter than the rest of the tail; the second stage would no doubt be that shown in a specimen of Paradisea apoda, in which the feathers are moderately lengthened, and with the web narrowed in the middle; the third stage is shown by a specimen which has part of the midrib bare, and terminated by a spatulate web; in another the bare midrib is a little dilated and semi-cylindrical, and the terminal web very small; in a fifth, the perfect black horny riband is formed, but it bears at its extremity a brown spatulate web, while in another a portion of the black riband itself bears, for a portion of its length, a narrow brown web.
The Paradisea apoda, as far as we have any certain knowledge, is confined to the mainland of the Aru Islands, never being found in the smaller islands which surround the central mass. It is certainly not found in any of the parts of New Guinea visited by the Malay and Bugis traders, nor in any of the other islands where Birds of Paradise are obtained.
The elongated and golden-orange plumes which spring from beneath the wings of the Paradisea apoda, when vertically erected and made to vibrate, are described as forming a sort of halo, in the centre of which the head "looks like a little emerald sun with its rays formed by the two plumes." Quoted from M. de Lafresnaye in 'Annals and Mag. of Natural History, vol. xiii. 1854, p. 157: see also Mr.
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