Manucodia atra is steel-green and black, with purple reflexions; M. (Eucorax) comrii has the head and neck-feathers curly, M. chalybeata those of the fore-neck. The Crow-like Lycocorax pyrrhopterus is greenish-black with brown wings; Xanthomelus aureus is orange-yellow, and has a deeper-coloured crested head and neck, black throat, tail, and part of wings and back, and a cape of hackled plumes falling over the last.
Of the Bower-birds, Prionodura newtoniana is bright orange, olive, and brown; Cnemophilus macgregori is golden-yellow above and black below, with brownish wings and tail; the thin recurved crest merging into a compressed frontal ridge, whence chestnut feathering extends over the culmen. Loria loriae is chiefly purplish-black with an iridescent violet nasal shield of scale-like feathers. Loboparadisea sericea is rufous-brown and yellow, with a wattle, apparently bluish, extending upwards from the gape on each side. Amblyornis inornata and A. subalaris are respectively olive and reddish-brown, with a huge orange-red crest. A. flavifrons has the crest yellower. Sericulus melinus, the Regent-bird, is black, with orange head, neck, and most of the remiges; Ptilorhynchus violaceus, the Satin-bird, is purplish-black, with much feathered culmen; Scenopoeetes dentirostris is olive-brown above, and fulvous with dusky streaks below. Aeluredus viridis, the Cat-bird, not to be confounded with that of America (p. [519]), is bright green, with a blue wash on the back, and with white streaks, bars, or spots on the nape, wings, tail, and yellowish under parts. Other species of the genus have mainly black or brown heads, while some have white throats with black markings. Chlamydodera nuchalis has grey-brown plumage above with whitish tips, a lilac nuchal band backed by stiff feathers, and a yellow-grey lower surface.
Fig. 128.–Satin Bower-bird. Ptilorhynchus violaceus. × ⅓.
Female Paradise-birds generally have brown upper parts with lighter markings, though they are occasionally blacker, as in Astrapia and Paradigalla; below the colour is rufous, buff, grey, yellowish or white, with bars, stripes, or chevrons of blackish or brown. In the female of Schlegelia the bare head is duller than in the male, while a little red and gold shews above; the hen of Ptilorhynchus exhibits grey-green and brown tints; the sexes are almost alike in Phonygammus, Manucodia, Lycocorax, and Aeluredus; in Paradisornis the female has blue wings and tail. Young birds usually resemble their mother; but with regard to their progress to maturity, the elongation and abrasion of the webs of the median rectrices, and the growth of the decorative tufts, the works of Mr. Wallace,[[294]] Dr. Guillemard,[[295]] and Mr. Rothschild[[296]] should be consulted.
Except in the Bower-birds the habits vary but little. Paradise-birds are lively and active, shy though curious, taking refuge in the thick foliage when disturbed; small flocks are not unfrequently observed, usually of one species, while for considerable periods the males appear to live apart. Closely wooded hills and ravines are the chief resorts, Falcinellus, Astrapia, Lophorhina, Diphyllodes, and the like preferring the inland heights of New Guinea up to an altitude of about nine thousand feet; Parotia of that country and Scenopoeetes of Queensland range to about four thousand feet; but such forms as Cicinnurus, Xanthomelus, Phonygammus, Ptilorhis, and the Australian Cat-birds and Bower-birds, occupy lower elevations on the coast or elsewhere. Falcinellus, Astrapia, Paradisea, Parotia, Ptilorhis, Sericulus, and doubtless others, love high tree-tops; Semioptera, Cicinnurus, and so forth, live nearer to the ground. The brief flight is rapid, though undulating and often heavy; in Cicinnurus it is noisy, in Ptilorhis the sound produced resembles the rustling of silk. Most species hop constantly about the boughs; Paradigalla often rests on dead trees; Drepanornis, Seleucides, Semioptera, and Ptilorhis, search under the bark for insects, and move about like Creepers. The pugnacious males of Paradisea collect to "dance" on favourite trees at the breeding season, when they fly about with elevated and vibrating plumes; while in the Family generally the cock courts the hen in Pigeon-like fashion, Diphyllodes making meanwhile a complete circle of its expanded mantle- and throat-plumes. Parotia scratches and rolls in the dust like a Fowl.
The voice may be a shrill reiterated "wake-wake," as in Paradisea; a harsh or sonorous cry, as in Falcinellus, Chlamydodera, Phonygammus, Ptilorhynchus, Sericulus, Seleucides, and Semioptera; a long, grating or triple sound, as in Ptilorhis; a mewing or flute-like note, as in Cicinnurus; or a sharp whistle, as in Aeluredus; the last-named and Amblyornis being especially excellent mimics. The diet consists largely of berries, seeds, fruits of Pandanus, and Freycinetia, the fig, nutmeg, and so forth; frogs, lizards, worms, snails, and caterpillars, however, are also eaten; insects are in great request; and Seleucides sucks honey from the flowers. The nest and eggs of several species have now been discovered; the former being a loose, open fabric of sticks and leaves in Ptilorhis, Ptilorhynchus, Sericulus, and Phonygammus; or of twigs, roots, moss, and grass in Eucorax, Chlamydodera, Prionodura, Aeluredus, and Drepanornis; it is placed in bushes, if not in low or even high trees. The eggs are glossy reddish-buff, with dark rufous or chestnut blotches and streaks, and a few black spots, in Paradisea apoda, P. augustae victoriae, P. raggiana, and Ptilorhis victoriae; similar or whiter, often with purplish or purplish-grey markings in Eucorax, Manucodia, and Drepanornis cervinicauda; yellower with additional wavy scrolling in Ptilorhynchus violaceus; yellowish-grey with pale brown freckles and blotches in Prionodura newtoniana; bluish or greenish-white, with or without red-brown dots and lines, in Aeluredus maculosus and Ae. viridis; greenish-white with a network of narrow brown and black lines in Chlamydodera maculata and C. cerviniventris; pale lavender with sienna and lilac spots and scrawls in Sericulus melinus. The number of eggs found varies from one to three.
Parotia lawesi, Aeluredus viridis and Scenopoeetes dentirostris, though not said to form bowers, make clear spaces where from six to eight males meet to sport, the last two species decorating them with green or coloured leaves, berries, and flowers. Prionodura fashions a bower or play-place of from four to six feet high by eight broad, piling sticks round two trees and roofing over the intervening space with creepers; white moss, ferns, and green fruit serving as ornaments. Small structures of over-arching grass capped with twigs are often observable close by. Amblyornis inornata heaps a cone of moss round a sapling, leaving a circular gallery between this and an outer conical cover of sticks two feet high, covered with orchid sprays. Before the entrance lies a bed of green moss decked with bright flowers and berries, which are renewed daily, the withered decorations being piled at the back. A. subalaris fashions a domed bower of sticks and moss, with one or two openings, round a shrub which is itself entwined with twigs; the centre of the floor shewing a cheese-like mass of moss ornamented with flowers and seeds. Sericulus melinus builds a run about a foot long on a platform of sticks, composing it of arched twigs and decorating it with shells, berries, and leaves. Ptilorhynchus violaceus makes a like structure of twigs and grass, which scarcely meet above, and adorns it with bright feathers; scattering other feathers, bones, shells, rags, berries, and the like over the space which Bower-birds habitually clear in front. In Chlamydodera nuchalis the similar bower, about three feet long, is lined with grasses, a large heap of ornaments lying before each entrance.
Paradise-birds are shot with blunt arrows, snared, caught in nets, in cloths, or with bird-lime; they have been kept in captivity by the Zoological Society of London, and in Italy.
Fam. XXIII. Corvidae.–The Crows and their kin compose a fairly uniform tribe, often divided into the Sub-families Corvinae (Crows), Garrulinae (Magpies and Jays), and Fregilinae (Choughs).