The Great Epimaque, Or Long-Tailed Paradise Bird (Epimachus
Magnus), Is Another Of These Wonderful Creatures, Only Known By
The Imperfect Skins Prepared By The
Natives.
In its dark velvety plumage, glowed with bronze and
purple, it resembles the Seleucides alba, but it bears a
magnificent tail more than two feet long, glossed on the upper
surface with the most intense opalescent blue.
Its chief
ornament, however, consists in the group of broad plumes which
spring from the sides of the breast, and which are dilated at the
extremity, and banded with the most vivid metallic blue and
green. The bill is long and curved, and the feet black, and
similar to those of the allied forms. The total length of this
fine bird is between three and four feet.
This splendid bird inhabits the mountains of New Guinea, in the
same district with the Superb and the Six-shafted Paradise Birds,
and I was informed is sometimes found in the ranges near the
coast. I was several times assured by different natives that this
bird makes its nest in a hole under ground, or under rocks,
always choosing a place with two apertures, so that it may enter
at one and go out at the other. This is very unlike what we
should suppose to be the habits of the bird, but it is not easy
to conceive how the story originated if it is not true; and all
travellers know that native accounts of the habits of animals,
however strange they may seem, almost invariably turn out to be
correct.
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