Errol Fuller - Drawn From Paradise - The Discovery, Art and Natural History of the Birds of Paradise

This book is not a complete cultural history of the birds of paradise and their effect on man. It is focused very much through western eyes. The matter of the birds’ influence on, and importance to, the peoples of New Guinea is only touched on: that is a subject for another book.

Nor does it include photographs, despite the fact that in recent years many wonderful images have been captured by camera. Photography, however, is beyond the scope of the present work, although it would make a splendid subject for another.

The book is certainly not intended as a complete monograph of the Paradiseidae, with each species described in detail. It is more in the nature of a tour through art and history with a good deal of ornithology thrown in. Its central idea is to showcase the breathtaking beauty of these birds and the enormous interest that surrounds them. As it is something of a historical ramble, the chapters are ordered according to the sequence in which the birds representing the various genera made their appearance in Europe.

According to generally accepted opinion, the species currently recognised are divided into sixteen genera, but only eleven of these genera are featured here in detail. The other five contain species – eleven of them – that are less visually spectacular and have histories that are, perhaps, less absorbing. They represent earlier stages in the evolutionary history of the bird of paradise family before the males abandoned their parental duties to devote themselves to the sexual displays that now dominate their lives and made them creatures of such extraordinary and extravagant beauty.

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