Emily Dickinson Lexicon

BIRD-OF-PARADISE, n.

A genus of birds, found in the Oriental Isles, and in New Guinea; some of them remarkably beautiful. The beak is covered with a belt or collar of downy feather at the base, and the feathers on the sides are very long. The largest species is two feet four inches in length. The head and back part of the neck are lemon-colored; the neck of the brightest emerald green, soft like velvet; the breast is black; the wings of a chestnut color. The back part of the body is covered with long straight narrow feathers, of a pale brown color, similar to the plumes of the ostrich. These are spread when the bird flies, for which reason he cannot keep long on the wing. From the rump proceed two long stiff shafts, feathered at the extremities. – Encyc.