BIRDE BIRD OF PARADISE 649 conquest ; that of " Nick of the Woods, or the Jibbenainosay," in Kentucky, at the close of the war of the revolution ; " Peter Pilgrim " contains a minute description of the Mammoth cave in Kentucky ; and " The Adventures of Robin Day " is the story of a shipwrecked orphan. Dr. Bird was for some time editor of the ' North American Gazette." BIRDE, or Byrd, William, an English composer, born about 1540, died July 21, 1623. He was a pupil of Tallis, and in 1563 was chosen or- ganist of Lincoln cathedral. In 1569 he was appointed gentleman of the chapel royal, and six years afterward organist to Queen Eliza- beth. The number of his vocal compositions, chiefly sacred, was enormous; and his pieces for the organ and virginals were almost as nu- merous. Among the latter is a collection of nearly 70 MS. compositions, known as Queen Elizabeth's virginal book. The fine canon, Non nobis, Domine, frequently sung in England, is a good specimen of his sacred vocal music. BIRD ISLANDS, a cluster of the Leeward islands of the Lesser Antilles, immediately N. of the gulf of Triste, Venezuela. They are so named from the immense numbers of birds that frequent them. They belong to the Dutch, and are inhabited by only a few fishers. BIRD LIME, a glutinous, viscid substance, of greenish color and bitterish taste, prepared by boiling the middle bark of the European holly (ilex aquifolium), or the young shoots of elder and other plants, as the mistletoe and other parasites, separating the gummy matter from the liquid, and leaving it for a fortnight in a moist cool place to become viscid. It is next pounded into a tough paste, well washed, and put aside for some days to ferment. Some oil or thin grease is incorporated with it, when it is ready for use. Its characteristic properties appear to identify it with the principle glu of the French chemists, which exudes spontaneously from certain plants. It differs from resins in being insoluble in the fixed oils. Bird lime is so tenacious that small birds alighting upon sticks daubed over with it are unable to escape. It is used for this purpose and also for destroy- ing insects. Large quantities of it were for- merly exported from Great Britain to India, but it is now imported into England from Turkey. BIRD OF PARADISE (genus paradisea, Linn.), a name given to a group of moderate-sized, cone-billed birds of the Malay archipelago, noted for the extraordinary development of the plumage, its extreme delicacy, and brilliant colors. The genus is characterized by a long, strong bill, with the culmen curved to the emarginated tip, and the sides compressed ; the nostrils lateral and covered by short feathers which conceal the base of the mandible ; the wings long and rounded, with the 4th and 5th quills equal and longest ; the tail is of various lengths, even or rounded ; the tarsi as long as the middle toe, robust and covered by a single lengthened scale ; the toes very long and strong, the outer larger than the inner, and united at the base, the hind toe long and robust ; the claws long, strong, much curved and acute ; the sides of the body, neck, breast, tail, and sometimes the head, ornamented with prolonged showy feathers. These birds are active and lively in their movements, and are usually seen on the tops of high trees, though they descend in the morning and evening to the lower branches to search for food, and to hide in the thick foliage from the heat of the sun. The food consists chiefly of the seeds of the teak tree, and of a species of fig ; they also devour grasshoppers and other insects, stripping off the wings and legs before swallowing them ; in confinement they will eat boiled rice, plantains, and similar food. Their cry is loud and sonorous, the notes being in rapid succession ; the first four notes Greater Paradise Bird (Paradises apoda). are said by Mr. Lay to be clear, exactly in- tonated, and very sweet, while the last three are repeated in a kind of caw, resembling those of a crow or daw, though more refined. The best known species is the greater paradise
