Zs.

the roosting-places are easily recognized by the dejecta, but in three weeks our hunters only secured one
bird. This was a male in fall plumage, which afterwards became very tame, and lived for men weeks on
board the ‘ Marchesa,’ though we were unfortunate enough to lose him before our arrival in aoe I

find the following notes in my ‘ Diary’ :—‘ The Seleucides is now wonderfully tame, and will eat a of one’s

hand. He feeds on the fruit of the Pandanus, on Papaw (Carica papaya), when it can be obtained, on

eae roaches, and occasionally a banana. He is fond of resting motionless, with the head sunk low on the

chest. The top of the head is very flat and low, so that the upper margin of the eyes protrudes above it.

He remains more or less quiet during the day, but in the morning and evening serene restless, moving

from perch to perch with a peculiar bounding hop. In feeding he is most wonderfully nea¢! With his ee

sharp bill he catches a cockroach with lightning-like rapidity, taking it across the body. He then gives 7

a sudden snap with the beak, throws it up in the air, catches it lengthwise, and it is out of Sian in an

instant. In this operation he displays to advantage the lovely colouring of the inside of the mouth and

throat. The only note he has as yet uttered in confinement is a single unmelodious croak.’ ”

The late Mr. W. A. Forbes published, in 1882, a ‘* Note on a Peculhiarity in the Trachea of the Twelve-
wired Bird of Paradise.” His observations were based on the specimen which lived in the Zoological
Society’s Gardens for nearly a year; he writes :—‘*The death of the male Seleucides has given ma the
opportunity of observing a peculiarity in the construction of its trachea of a nature unlike anything of the
kind yet known to me. The windpipe, for the greater part of its course, has the normal avian structure,
the tracheal rings, which are ossified and, as usual, notched both before and behind, being of the ordinary
form, and separated by but narrow intervals from each other. For a space, however, of about one inch
above the largely developed short pair of intrinsic muscles, the interval comprising 8 tracheal rings, it becomes
peculiarly modified, the tube itself becoming slightly dilated and flattened antero-posteriorly, whilst the
tracheal rings become broader, and ossified along the middle of their depth, the borders only remaining
artilaginous. This ossified part of each ring is slightly concave, so that when seen laterally the
cartilaginous margins project slightly from it, the whole ring being thus like a fluted table-napkin ring, when
seen in section. The intervals between these peculiar rings are very much deeper than those above, and
occupied by delicate membrane only, so that all this part of the trachea is highly elastic.

‘«¢ The sterno-tracheales are inserted just below the lowest of these peculiar rings, which is the last but
three of those composing the trachea—the next two, which are very narrow, and the last, which is broad
and bears the pessulus, being concealed from view by the largely developed syringeal muscles, of which
there are four pairs, all, except the small anterior long muscle, being inserted on the ends of the very
strong third bronchial semi-rings. The lateral tracheal muscles are weak, extending, however, nearly to the
thoracic end of the tube.

“Nothing like the modification of the trachea here described obtains in any other allied form of
Paradise-bird that I have been able to examine (including Paradisea papuana and P. rubra, Craspedophora
alberti, Phonygama gould, Manucodia atra, Ptilorhynchus violaceus, and Avluredus smith); nor do I know
any structure in other birds quite comparable with that now described, which is probably correlated with the
very loud harsh note of these birds. In all other respects Seleucides is, as might have been expected, a
typical oscine Passerine.
marking that the various published figures of Seleucides do not give a

“T may take this opportunity of re |
ay in which the leg-feathering ceases

very accurate idea of the bird, as they fail to represent the peculiar w
altogether some way above the ‘knee,’ leaving the large and muscular legs bare for about an inch or so
above that joint.”

Adult male. General colour above velve
light, with coppery bronze reflections ; scapulars and wing-coverts resem
f violet; tail fiery purple; head

ty black, with a strong gloss of oil-green when viewed from the
bling the back; greater coverts
and secondaries fiery purple, the primaries black, with an external gloss o
all round of a velvety texture, coppery purple above, oily green on the sides
neck and chest velvety black, forming a shield, somewhat shaded with oily green in the centre, the lateral
plumes all tipped mith bright inetallic emerald-green, forming a fringe; rest of the under Se of pony
buffy yellow, the plumes of the flanks elongated and_ silky and furnished with six thread-like shafts,

produced toa great length, and curved backwards on the bod
CEO) ia iris holly-berry red, bill black, inside of mouth and throat grass-

of the face and throat; fore-

?
y; under wing-coverts black : ‘ bill black, feet

pale coral-red, iris cherry-red ’
legs and feet the colour of pink coral” (2. H. 71. Guillemard). Total length 12 inches, culmen 2°7,
0-2 inches beyond the flank-feathers.

back of the neck and sides of the same black ;

green,
wing 6:45, tail 3:15, tarsus 1:75; threads reaching |
Adult female. General colour above bright chestnut-red ;