Circling the heavens: visual culture and the bird of paradise

—Dr José Ramón Marcaida - Veteran wildlife broadcaster David Attenborough is not often lost for words - but sometimes nature defies description. Seeking to put into words the extraordinary courtship dance of the bird of paradise, filmed deep in the forests of New Guinea for the BBC's Natural World series, he struggled. Eventually he shook his head and uttered two words - "beautiful" and "bonkers" - to sum up the spectacular extremes of dance and display with which the male bird seeks to impresses a female. When in the 15^th and 16^th centuries exploration began to bring the natural riches of the world across the oceans within the grasp of Europe's social elites, there was much to marvel at and much to capture in words and images: unknown peoples and cultures, novel flora and fauna. Wild rumour and fevered speculation surrounded these exotic beings. Among them was the bird of paradise and its splendidly colourful plumage. There was an additional element to the allure of this most madly exotic of birds: it was said to have no legs and spend its entire life in flight.