凤薮丽羽:海外珍禽"倒挂鸟"考

当宋、元、明代,缘士人的题咏,令被称之为"桐花凤"和"绿毛么凤"、"罗浮凤"、"倒挂子"的美艳小禽十分脍炙人口.前者乃雀形目花蜜鸟科的"绿喉太阳鸟",而后数者缘其"倒挂"的生态特征,则为分类上属于雀形目极乐鸟科,栖息地为今分隶于印度尼西亚、巴布亚新几内亚两国的伊里安岛及其附近区域的"蓝极乐鸟"、"红极乐鸟".至于中国从"下港"、"浡泥"等国的"贡献"中得到它们,标明中世纪的东南亚存在着一定规模的"珍禽市场".

Bird in Phoenix Swamp:A Study on hanging-upside-down Birds

The beautiful bird like phoenix tree bird and little green phoenix, also called Lofu phoenix and hanging-upside-down bird have enjoyed great popularity since they were depicted in the poems in Song, Yuan and Ming dynasties. The former was green-tailed sunbirds and the latter was blue or red birds of paradise that hang upside down on the branches of trees and live in Irian Island and in the vicinity of Indonesia and Papua new Guinea. It is believed that there existed some rare birds markets in Southeast asia in Middle Ages because the Chinese emperors got paradise birds as articles of tribute offered by the countries like Jawa and Kalimantan Islands.