Bird of Paradise
2 of the 6 encyclopedias on this shelf carry an entry for Bird of Paradise. Both are reproduced below, so you can see where they agree and where they differ.
Aiton's Encyclopedia (1910)
a family of birds found chiefly in New Guinea , northern Australia, and adjacent islands. The family is related to that of the crow. The species vary in size, however, some being no larger than a sparrow. The common name is derived from the magnificent plumage of the male, particularly that of the tail and wings, and sometimes shoulder tufts, which extend frequently to several times the length of the body. Rich colors,--purples, orange, scarlet, crimson, steel green, violet, and glossy black,--with deep metallic lusters, prevail. The commercial demand for the feathers has led to the destruction of these birds in great numbers. All are forest birds, spending their lives in noisy flocks amid the tree tops. They live chiefly on berries, seeds, and insects. Some species examine the trunks of trees like creepers, and a few descend to the ground for worms and snails. Their nests are for the most part loose, careless platforms of sticks, built pigeon fashion. During the nesting season the gay colored male remains at some distance, probably for prudential reasons, so as not to attract enemies, while the quietly clad female takes care of the nest.
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
the English designation of a family of conirostral birds -the paradiseida. They are closely allied to the corvidæ (crows), with which, indeed, they are united by some writers. They have magnificent plumage, especially the males, who can, canopy of morevover, elevate quite a The fable plumes behind their necks. of the phenix is believed to have been framed from myths current about the birds of paradise.
What Has Changed in the Last Century
Aiton's 1910 note that "the commercial demand for the feathers has led to the destruction of these birds in great numbers" describes a trade then at its height: skins went by the tens of thousands to milliners, and it was killed off by law rather than by conservation sentiment — the US Lacey Act of 1900 and Tariff Act of 1913, and Britain's plumage import ban passed in 1921, the very year Collier's wrote. Today the roughly 40-odd species of Paradisaeidae are legally protected, with limited traditional use by Papuan communities, and the birds' fame rests less on the feathers than on the displays: Tim Laman and Ed Scholes's Birds-of-Paradise Project photographed and filmed every then-recognised species, work completed around 2011. The old picture of "noisy flocks amid the tree tops" and males keeping a prudent distance from the nest has been reframed by the modern understanding of sexual selection — most species are polygynous, males gather at display sites and contribute nothing whatever to nesting, so the female's drab plumage and solitary care are the consequence, not a shared strategy. Collier's guess that the phoenix legend grew from these birds is not accepted; the better-attested myth is that trade skins arrived with the legs cut away, giving Linnaeus's greater bird-of-paradise the name Paradisaea apoda, "the footless".
Written for this edition, 2026.