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upon insufficient details.
title is not particularly ap

by Count Salvadori, and rece ;
“The genus Seleucides is remarkable for the elongated shafts to the flank-plumes, which represent
: j : y . . : ;

wires on each side of the body. The tail is square and not lengthened as in Epinachus ;
same long-billed section of the Birds of Paradise, which also

The first available name for the species is P. nigricans of Shaw, though such a
plicable to a bird which is yellow underneath, but the name has been adopted
nt ornithologists have followed him.

six thread-like
but the genus Seleucides belongs to the
inclndes the Rifle-birds (Peilorhis) and the Sick]
, and from Péilorhis in the want of a metallic pectoral shield.

e-billed genus Drepanornis. It differs from the latter

in its thread-like flank-shafts
The Twelve-wired Bird of Paradise is only founc
sas been obtained by Dr. Wallace, by Bernstein, von Rosenberg, and Dr. Beccari. In

1 in New Guinea and the adjoining island of Salawati.

In the latter it |
New Guinea it has been found in
at Dorei, von Rosenberg at Andai, Dr. Beccari at Wa Samson, D’Albertis at Sorong,

the north-western and in the south-eastern districts. Thus Dr. Wallace

met with the species
and Dr. Beccari again at Mesan.

In South-eastern New Guinea D’Albertis procured a large series on the Fly River, and it has been
obtained in the Port Moresby district. Mr. Goodwin tells me that on Sir William MacGregor’s Expedition
to Mount Victoria the species was not obtained inland, owing to the rapidity with which the Expedition
travelled, but its note was heard on many occasions. It frequents the low and swampy districts near the

coasts, where it is difficult to reach, as it generally sits perched on a dead tree in the middle of a swamp,
Its callenote can be heard from a long distance off: it consists of a double note, difficult to imitate, even
by the natives of the country. D’Albertis says that he found the bird to be solitary and frequently resting
on the dead branch of a tree, uttering its note, which sounded like Co-co-co, in the early morning at

the rising of the sun : during the day it was silent. The Hon. Walter Rothschild has received specimens

from Mount Victoria, and he speaks of Titan
from Port Chalmers, west of Port Moresby.” Dr. Loria has obtained the species at Veimauri, on the left

2

s a lowland species, ‘‘ evidently common about sixty miles inland

bank of the Vanapa, in October.

The following account of the species is given by Dr. A. R. Wallace in his ‘ Malay Archipelago’ :—
“The Twelve-wired Bird of Paradise is found in the islands of Salawati and in the north-western parts of
New Guinea, where it frequents flowering-trees, especially sago-palms and Pandani, sucking the flowers,
round and beneath which its unusually large and powerful feet enable it to cling. Its motions are very rapid.
It seldom rests more than a few moments on one tree, after which it flies straight off, and with great
swiftness, to another. It has a lond shrill cry, to be heard a long way, cousisting of ‘cah-cah,’ repeated
five or six times in a descending scale; and at the last note it generally flies away. The males are quite
solitary in their habits, although, perhaps, they assemble at certain times like the true Paradise-birds. All
the specimens shot and opened by my assistant Mr. Allen, who obtained this fine bird during his last
voyage to New Guinea, had nothing in their stomachs but a brown sweet liquid, probably the nectar of the
flowers on which they had been feeding. They certainly, however, eat both fruit and insects ; for a
specimen, which I saw alive on board a Dutch steamer, ate cockroaches and paya fruit voraciously. This
bird had the curious habit of resting at noon with the bill pointing vertically upwards. It died on the
passage to Batavia; and I secured the body and formed a skeleton, which shows indisputably that it Is
really a Bird of Paradise. ‘The tongue is very long and extensible, but flat, and a little fibrous at the end,
exactly like the true Paradise.

: In the island of Salawati the natives search in the forests till they find the sleeping-place of this bird,
eee they know by seeing its dung upon the ground. It is generally in a low bushy tree. At night they
climb up the tree, and either shoot the birds with blunt arrows, or even catch them alive with a cloth. In

>

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5

New Guinea they are caug ’ placi
panes they are caught by placing snares on the trees frequented by them, in the same way as the
Red Paradise-birds are caught in Waigiou.”
The first specimen of this species Si
a vee of this species brought alive to Europe was apparently a bird presented by Signor G.
4. Serruti to the King of Italy survi | recel
ae the King of Italy. It survived but a few months. Another specimen was received by
1e Loological Society of London j 38 it li
S : ) in 1881, where e ‘nearly twelve aa
the following note on one of these birds a Dee nea nee no aa ain a
oo : aie ese birds which was captured alive in Salawati and lived for some time
on board the ‘ Marchesa’ :—*« ‘ing r VISI S i iving
ae - a’:— During our visit to Salawati we were fortunate enough to acquire a living
Specimen of this exquisite species. T incredi
ie eSduisitc species. The way they are caught appears almost incredible. The native
searches in the forest until, by the droppings
? Ors

he has disconcre al roostinoenlne | sles
: ; ; as discovered the usual roosting-place of the species:
He conceals himself beneath the tree to 4

discover the exact branch chosen by the bird, and then climbing up

at night, quietly places ;
ces Rei Ra m . 5 - ns So 7 2
Sut, quietly places a cloth over it. The species being exceedingly fond of the fruit of the Pandanus,