Be
met with in every forest ramble - a country reached by such a long
and tedious voyage, and which might not in the present century be
again visited for the same purpose - is a punishment too severe
for a naturalist to pass over in silence.
I had, however, some consolation in the birds my boys brought
home daily, more especially the Paradiseas, which they at length
obtained in full plumage. It was quite a relief to my mind to get
these, for I could hardly have torn myself away from Aru had I
not obtained specimens.
But what I valued almost as much as the birds themselves was the
knowledge of their habits, which I was daily obtaining both from
the accounts of my hunters, and from the conversation of the
natives. The birds had now commenced what the people here call
their "sacaleli," or dancing-parties, in certain trees in the
forest, which are not fruit trees as I at first imagined, but
which have an immense tread of spreading branches and large but
scattered leaves, giving a clear space for the birds to play and
exhibit their plumes. On one of these trees a dozen or twenty
full-plumaged male birds assemble together, raise up their wings,
stretch out their necks, and elevate their exquisite plumes,
keeping them in a continual vibration.
