Wednesday 4 April 2018 at 18:17
When birds of paradise first arrived to Europe, as dried specimens with legs and wings removed, they were seen in almost mythical terms — as angelic beings forever airborne, nourished by dew and the "nectar" of sunlight. Natalie Lawrence looks at how European naturalists of the 16th and 17th centuries attempted to make sense of these entirely novel and exotic creatures from the East.
Source: http://publicdomainreview.org/2018/04/04/fallen-angels-birds-of-paradise-in-early-modern-europe/