Honoured for their historical symbolism and unique beauty, 'birds of paradise' , the native birds... more Honoured for their historical symbolism and unique beauty, 'birds of paradise' , the native birds of the eastern islands of the Indonesian archipelago, Papua and eastern Australia were the object of fabulous imagination of outsiders, enhanced by the fact that few if any were successfully exported live or could tolerate captivity. The term bird of paradise normally refers to forty-five species indigenous to New Guinea and adjacent islands, the surrounding islands of Indonesia and a small part of northeastern Australia. Although their closest relatives are believed to be crows and ravens, birds of paradise are known for their bright and ornate plumage which, as in many bird species, is sported exclusively by males and plays an important role in elaborate courtship rituals. From the sixteenth century onwards the trade in their feathers developed in Asia. 2 Maximilianus Transylvanus wrote effusively about the beauty of their plumage, but started his account of the bird of paradise by relating a local tradition in which the first Muslim who came to the Spice Islands to trade is said to have declared that these birds had come from paradise to the islands when their rulers first adopted Islam. As a result, the rulers believed themselves under the birds' protection, and the birds' plumage was paraded on the front line in battle. The feathers of the bird of paradise were considered an essential accoutrement for a warrior's headdress since they would render him invulnerable to the enemy's arrows and spears. In 1569 Gabriel Rebello noted the legend that 'the birds of paradise were blown by the wind to Banda, they knew neither the earth nor birth and that their plumes were much esteemed in Portugal itself as well as India' . Frei Paulo da Trindade marvelled at the beauty of the birds' plumage and related how they never alight on the ground except at their moment of death. They have no feet but instead a kind of nerve coming out from their beaks, two spans in length, which with a few turns they fix to the branches of trees and so hangover there to rest or sleep. They feed on dew and are only one span in length. As a result of the birds' unique beauty, they were hunted very carefully, so as not to damage their beautiful plumage. Then, their feet were cut off, the body skinned up to the beak and the skull removed. The whole was then wrapped in the palm and dried in a smoke-filled hut.
Honoured for their historical symbolism and unique beauty, 'birds of paradise' , the native birds... more Honoured for their historical symbolism and unique beauty, 'birds of paradise' , the native birds of the eastern islands of the Indonesian archipelago, Papua and eastern Australia were the object of fabulous imagination of outsiders, enhanced by the fact that few if any were successfully exported live or could tolerate captivity. The term bird of paradise normally refers to forty-five species indigenous to New Guinea and adjacent islands, the surrounding islands of Indonesia and a small part of northeastern Australia. Although their closest relatives are believed to be crows and ravens, birds of paradise are known for their bright and ornate plumage which, as in many bird species, is sported exclusively by males and plays an important role in elaborate courtship rituals. From the sixteenth century onwards the trade in their feathers developed in Asia. 2 Maximilianus Transylvanus wrote effusively about the beauty of their plumage, but started his account of the bird of paradise by relating a local tradition in which the first Muslim who came to the Spice Islands to trade is said to have declared that these birds had come from paradise to the islands when their rulers first adopted Islam. As a result, the rulers believed themselves under the birds' protection, and the birds' plumage was paraded on the front line in battle. The feathers of the bird of paradise were considered an essential accoutrement for a warrior's headdress since they would render him invulnerable to the enemy's arrows and spears. In 1569 Gabriel Rebello noted the legend that 'the birds of paradise were blown by the wind to Banda, they knew neither the earth nor birth and that their plumes were much esteemed in Portugal itself as well as India' . Frei Paulo da Trindade marvelled at the beauty of the birds' plumage and related how they never alight on the ground except at their moment of death. They have no feet but instead a kind of nerve coming out from their beaks, two spans in length, which with a few turns they fix to the branches of trees and so hangover there to rest or sleep. They feed on dew and are only one span in length. As a result of the birds' unique beauty, they were hunted very carefully, so as not to damage their beautiful plumage. Then, their feet were cut off, the body skinned up to the beak and the skull removed. The whole was then wrapped in the palm and dried in a smoke-filled hut.
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