Drawn from Paradise: The Natural History, Art and Discovery of the Birds of Paradise with Rare Archival Art

Drawn from Paradise: The Natural History, Art and Discovery of the Birds of Paradise with Rare Archival Art

Errol Fuller

Language: English

Pages: 256

ISBN: 0062234684

Format: PDF / Kindle (mobi) / ePub


Originally perceived and idolized by the natives of New Guinea and discovered by Europeans in the sixteenth century, birds of paradise have long enchanted observers with their extraordinary beauty. In Drawn from Paradise, world renowned BBC broadcaster David Attenborough and artist and author Errol Fuller share their passion for these breathtaking creatures, offering bird lovers and nature aficionados an enthralling collection of interesting facts and stunningly beautiful, very rare hand-painted images of some of the most exotic winged creatures in the world.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

same, doubtless, would be true for birds of paradise, though seemingly no-one has been unfeeling enough to inflict such barbarity on one of them. Arfak Six-wired Bird of Paradise, male. Jacques Barraband, c.1800. Watercolour, 52 cm x 38 cm (21 in x 15 in). Private collection. Greater Birds, the species that Wallace first observed in display, gather together for these competitions, usually in a tall tree with relatively open upper branches where the birds can be easily seen as a group. There

beautiful array of sheens and glosses. The single individual now part of the collection of the Leiden Museum may or may not be a hybrid, but it is truly an enigma. But ornithology has moved on, and the argument is now largely academic. Stresemann’s masterpiece of ornithological detection might have balanced perfectly had he not pursued his well-conceived general hypothesis to a positive conclusion in each individual case. That the birds of paradise hybridise to a degree that is not typical of

captivity, and for many years these observations were the only ones of their kind. Even today, they are still quoted. When asked why he was so interested in birds, Crandall always gave the same answer – ‘I don’t know’. Luigi Maria D’Albertis (1841–1901) was a flamboyant Italian aristocrat who made significant contributions to the exploration of New Guinea. His most celebrated New Guinea adventure was to steam up the River Fly, for a distance of almost 1,000 km (600 miles), in a launch called

also visited Madagascar. He held some remarkably modern views on a number of matters, including the subject of racism. Being particularly impressed with the various cultures of India, he regarded the Brahmins as the most enlightened of all human beings. Princess Stephanie (1864–1945). A Belgian princess by birth, she married Crown Prince Rudolph when she was just sixteen, and expected that one day she would rule over the Austro-Hungarian Empire. However, she was widowed when Rudolph

zoological specimens. Going ashore in July 1824 at Dorey Harbour, today’s Manokwari, at the western end of New Guinea, he glimpsed one of the birds. “Whilst we were walking very carefully on a wild pig trail through the dense scrub,’ he wrote, ‘suddenly in a slight curve a bird of paradise flew gracefully over our heads; trailing light like a meteor. We were so amazed,’ he added, ‘that the flintlocks in our hands did not move.’ Mr Thomson, Animal and Bird Preserver to the Leverian and British

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