c. 1524.—"He also (the K. of Bachian) gave us for the King of Spain two most beautiful dead birds. These birds are as large as thrushes; they have small heads, long beaks, legs slender like a writing pen, and a span in length; they have no wings, but instead of them long feathers of different colours, like plumes; their tail is like that of the thrush. All the feathers, except those of the wings (?), are of a dark colour; they never fly except when the wind blows. They told us that these birds come from the terrestrial Paradise, and they call them 'bolon dinata,' [burung-dewata, same as Javanese Manuk-dewata, supra] that is, divine birds."—Pigafetta, Hak. Soc. 143.
1598.—"... in these Ilands (Moluccas) onlie is found the bird, which the Portingales call Passaros de Sol, that is Foule of the Sunne, the Italians call it Manu codiatas, and the Latinists Paradiseas, by us called Paradice birdes, for ye beauty of their feathers which passe al other birds: these birds are never seene alive, but being dead they are found vpon the Iland; they flie, as it is said, alwaies into the Sunne, and keepe themselues continually in the ayre ... for they haue neither feet nor wings, but onely head and bodie, and the most part tayle...."—Linschoten, 35; [Hak. Soc. i. 118].
1572.—
"Olha cá pelos mares do Oriente
As infinitas ilhas espalhadas
* * * * * * *
Aqui as aureas aves, que não decem
Nunca á terra, e só mortas aparecem."
Camões, x. 132.
Englished by Burton: