File:Birds and nature (1906) (14750483475).jpg

Identifier: birdsnature41906chic (find matches)
Title: Birds and nature
Year: 1900 (1900s)
Authors:
Subjects: Birds Natural history
Publisher: Chicago, Ill. : A.W. Mumford, Publisher
Contributing Library: Smithsonian Institution Libraries
Digitizing Sponsor: Biodiversity Heritage Library

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inthe Garden of Eden, restingoccasionally by suspendingthemselves from the branches oftrees by the feathers of theirtails, and feeding on air, or thesoft dews of heaven. Hence theycalled us the Birds of Paradise. It was not till one hundredyears after, when a writer andcollector of birds visited theisland, and spent years in watch-ing and studying us, that thetruth became known. Certainly,the gentleman must havelaughed,when, instead of heaven-ly dew, he saw a Bird ofParadise catch a Grasshopperand holding it firmly by hisclaws, trim it of wings andlegs, then devour it, head first.Fruit and insects of all kindswe eat instead of dew and air. He also saw a party of twentyor thirty males dancing on thebranches of huge trees, raisingtheir wings, stretching out theirnecks and elevating their plumesall for the purpose of aduiiringthemselves or being admired.Some of them have finer plumagethan I, but only the KingbirdsOF Paradise have those two dearlittle rings which you see in mypicture. 92
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c/) Q< THE KINGBIRD OF PARADISE. (^ HE sublime is no nearer theridiculous in literature than inthe things of nature. Aninstance of this is the closerelation of the common Crow to themost glorious bird of them all. Notonly are they very much alike ingeneral form, including shape of feet,bill, bones, and ordinary feathering, butalso in habit. They seem to delight inthe same sorts of food and secure it inmuch the same manner. When theyare happiest and attempt to pour forththeir songs of joy the voice of the Crowis fully as melodious and satisfactoryto the human ear as is that of the Birdof Paradise. The old fable in regard to theirhaving no feet and living only on thedews of heaven and the delicacieswhich they were supposed to be ableto collect from the atmosphere as theyfloated perpetually free from the earthand its contaminations was so gratefulto Europeans that when Antony Piga-fetta, who accompanied Magellanaround the world and secured a greatdeal of information at first hand,desc

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