Friday, December 9, 2011

Birds of Paradise

"The birds-of-paradise are members of the family Paradisaeidae [and] the order Passeriformes. The majority of species in this family are found on the island of New Guinea and its satellites, with a few species occurring in the Moluccas and eastern Australia.

The family has forty species in 14 genera. The members of this family are perhaps best known for the plumage of the males of most species, in particular highly elongated and elaborate feathers extending from the beak, wings or head.
For the most part they are confined to dense rainforest habitat. The diet of all species is dominated by fruit and to a lesser extent arthropods. The birds-of-paradise have a variety of breeding systems, ranging from monogamy to lek-based polygamy." [continues]

The set of images below (all assiduously background cleaned) would be more accurately titled: Birds of Paradise AND Friends.

They come from an 1806, 2-volume work called 'Histoire Naturelle des Oiseaux de Paradis et des Rolliers, suivie de celle des Toucans et des Barbus' by François Levaillant and Jacques Barraband {featured on BibliOdyssey recently with Toucans}.



Le Nebuleux : order - Passeriformes family - Paradisaeidae



red bird of paradise book illustration



Le Sifilet no. 12



Le Geai Bleu no. 45



Le Geai varie no. 41



Le petit Oiseau de paradis Emeraude, male no. 1



Le Geai d'Europe no. 40



Le Momot dans son jeune age no. 38



Le petit Oiseau de paradis Emeraude, male no. 4



Le Momot dombe no. 39



Le Rollier a long brins d'Afrique, male no. 25



Le Superbe etalant ses parures no. 15



Le Geai Peruvian no. 46



Femelle de la Pie de paradis no. 22

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