No less extraordinary is the behaviour of the King-bird of Paradise (_Cicinnurus regius_), which has been described by Sir William Ingram, who for a time had a captive in his aviaries. As the illustration shows, its posturing is quite remarkable. Before this is described, however, a brief description of its coloration should be given, which, it must be remarked, cannot possibly convey more than a very vague idea of its sumptuous character. Picture a bird no bigger than a thrush, but of a wonderful cinnabar red, with a gloss as of spun glass: the head clothed in short, velvety, orange-hued feathers; and with a white breast, having the softness and sheen of satin, and crossed by a band of deep metallic green, contrasting with the red of the throat. Add a yellow beak, and legs of cobalt blue, and you will have the features which catch the eye at the first glance. But a little closer examination will reveal yet other points for wonderment. Along each side of the body the upper flank-feathers become elongated and delicately tinted, and, furthermore, they are erectile: so that they can be raised up on each side of the body to form an almost circular shield of delicate ash grey, bordered with buff and emerald green. These play a most important part during the sexual frenzy, and the effect thereof is not a little heightened by the middle pair of tail-feathers, which have been modified to form a pair of slender stalks, some ten inches long, bearing at the ends a curious disc of emerald green formed by coiling upon itself—like a watch-spring—the only piece of the vane of the feather which remains.