.ilin
upon iiisiifticieiit details. The first availalile name for the species Is P. tngrimns of Shaw, though sncli a
title Is not |iiirtieularly appllcahle to a bird wliieh is yellow underneath, but the name lias been adopted
by Count Salvailori, and recent ornithologists have followed him.
'J'he genus Sckiidfks is remarkable for the elongated shafts to the llaiik-plumcs, which represent
six thread-like wires on each side of the body. Tlie tail is square and not lengthened as in Epimac/ms •,
but the genus Sclmckles helmigs to the same long-billed .section of the Birds of Paradise, which also
includes the Uiile-birds (P/iior/iis) and the Sicklc-hilled genus Drepanornk. It dilfers from the latter
in its thread-like (laiik-shafts, and from Ptilorhh in the waut of a metallic pectoral shield.
'I'he Twelve-wired HinI of Paradise is only found iii New Guinea and the adjoining island of Salawati.
In tbe latter it has beeu obtained by Dr. Wallace, by Bernstein, von Rosenberg, and Dr. Beccari. In
New Cuinea it lias beeu found in the north-western aud in the sontli-easteni districts. Thus Dr. Wallace
met wiih the s]iecie.s at Dorei, von Rosenberg at Audai, Dr. Beccari at Wa Samson, D'Albertis at Sorong,
and Dr. licceari again at Mesaii.
In South-eastern New Guinea D'Albertis procured a large series on the Fly River, and it has been
ohtaiiied 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 ra|iidity 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 oil a dead tree iii the middle of a swamp.
Its call-note can be heard from a long distance olT: it consists of a double note, difficult to imitate, even
by the natives of the coimtry. D'Albertis says that he found the bird to he solitary and frequently resting
on the dead brancli of a tree, uttering its note, which sounded like Co-c6-c6, iu the early morning at
the rising of the sun : during the day it was silent. The Hon. Walter Uotlischild has received specimens
from Mount Victoria, and he speaks of it as a lowland species, " evidently common about sixty miles inland
from Port Chalmers, west of Port Moresby." Dr. Loria has obtained the species at Veiniauri, on the left
bank of the Vaiiapa, 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 aud iu the north-western parts of
New Guinea, where it frequents flowering-trees, especially sago-palms and Pundani, sucking the flowers,
rouiid and beneath which its uniisually large aud powerful feet enable it to cling. Its motions are very rapid.
It seldom rests more than a few niomeiits on one tree, after which it flies straight olT, and with great
swiftness, to another. It has a loud shrill cry, to be heard a long way, consisting 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 iu their habits, although, |)erhaps, 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 thev 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»'.
" I n tbe island of Salawati the natives search in the forests till they find the slceping-|ilace of this bird,
which 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 cither sboot the birds with blunt arrows, or even catch them alive with a cloth. In
New Guinea they are caught by placing snares on the trees frequented by them, in the .same way as tbe
Red Paradise-birds are caught iu Waigiou."
The first speciinen of this species brought alive to Europe was apparently a bird ¡ireseiited by Sigiior G.
E. Serruti to tbe King of Italy. It survived but a few months. Another specimen was received by
the Zoological Society of London iu 1881, where it lived for nearly twelve months. Dr. Guillemard gives
the following note on one of these birds which was captured alive in Salawati aud lived for some time
oil board the ' Ma r c h e s a ' :—"Du r i ng our visit to Salawati we were fortunate enough to acquire a living
specimen of this exquisite sjiecies. The way they arc caught appears almost incredible. The native
searches iu the forest until, by the droppings, he has discovered the usual roosting-place of the species.
He conceals liimself beneath the tree to discover the exact branch chosen by the bird, and then climbing up
at night, quietly places a cloth over it. The species being exceedingly fond of the fruit of the Pandanus^
the roosnug-places are easily recognized hy tbe dyeda, but in three weeks our hunlers only secured one
bird Ibis was a male in full plumage, which afterwards became very tame, and lived for many weeks on
board the ' Marchesa,' though we were unfortunate enough to lose him before our arrival in hfindand I
find the following notes in my • D i a r y ' : - ' T h e SclcucUk. is now wonderfully tame, and will cat out <,f one's
baud. He feeds on the fruit of the Pandun,,,, on Papaw iCrka when it can be obtained, on
cockroaches, and occasionally on banana. He is fou.l of resting motionless, with the head sunk low on the
chest. 'Ihe top of the bead is very flat and low, so that the upper margin of the eyes protrudes above it.
He remains more or less quiet during tbe day, but in tbe morning ami evening is'more restless, moving
from perch to perch with a peculiar bounding ho,,. Iu feeding be is most wonderfully neal ! With his lorn'
sharp lull he catches a cockroach will, lightning-like rapidity, taking it across ibe body. He then gives i"t
a su.lden snap with ihe beak, throws it up in the air, catches it lengthwise, an,l it is out of sight in an
instant. In this operation he displays to advantage the lovely colouring of the inside of tbe mouth and
throat. Tbe only note he has as yet uttered in confinement is a single iinmelodioiis croak ' "
The late Mr. W. A. Forbes published, in 1882, a "Not e on a Peculiarity in the Trachea of tbe Twelvewired
Bird of Paradise." His observations were based on the specimen which lived iu tbe Zoological
Society's Gardens for nearly a year; be writes The death of the male SekumUn has given me the
opportunity of observing a peculiarity in the construction of its trachea of a nature unlike miythiiig of the
kind yet known to me. Tbe windpipe, for tbe greater part of its course, has the normal avian structure,
tbe tracheal rings, which are ossified and, as usual, notched both before and behind, being of tbe ordinary
form, aud sejiarated by hut narrow intervals from each other. For a space, however, of" about one inch
above the largely developed short pair of intrinsic muscles, tbe interval comprising 8 tracheal rings, it becomes
peculiarly modified, tbe tube itself becoming slighlly dilated and flattened aiitero-posteriorly, whilst the
tracheal rings become broader, and ossified along the middle of their dejitli, the borders on'ly remaining
cartilaginous. 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 tablc-napkiu ring, when
seen in section. The intervals between these peculiar rings are very much dee|)er than those above, and
occupied by delicate membrane only, so that all this part of the trachea is highly elastic.
" T b e sterno-trachcales are inserted just below the lowest of these peculiar rings, which is the last but
three of those com|iosing the trachea—the next two, which are very narrow, and the last, which is broad
aud bears the pessuhis, lieing concealed from view l)y the largely developed syringeal muscles, of which
there are fiiur pairs, all, exccpt the small anterior long muscle, being inserted on the cuds of the very
strong third bronchial semi-rings. The lateral tracheal muscles are weak, exteniling, 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 Puradismpupunm and P. ruhm, Cmpndoplmrii
nlberti, Phomjgama gouldi, Matmcodla utra, PtUorhyjidius vio/aceus, and /Elurmdm smilhi) ; nor ilo I know
any structure in other birds quite comparable with that now described, which is ]irobably correlated with the
very loud harsh note of these birds. In all other respects Seleuckles is, as might have been expected, a
typical osciiie Passerine.
" I may take this opportunity of remarking that the various published figures of Seleuckles do not give a
very accurate idea of the bird, as they fail to represent the peculiar way in which the leg-feathering ceases
altogether some way above the ' knee,' leaving the large and muscular legs bare fur about an inch or so
above that joint."
Adnlt male. General colour above velvety black, with a strong gloss of oil-green when viewed from tbe
light, with coppery bronze reflections; scapulars and wing-coverts resembling the liack ; greater coverts
aud secondaries fiery purple, the primaries black, with an external gloss of violet; tail fiery puqile; head
all round of a velvety texture, coppery purjile above, oily green on tbe sides of the face and throat; foreneck
and chest velvety black, forming a shield, somewhat shaded with oily green in the centre, the lateral
plumes all tipped with bright metallic emerald-green, forming a fringe ; rest of the iinder surface of body
buffy yellow, the plumes of the flanks elongated and silky, and furnished with six thread-like shafts,
produced to a great length, and curved backwards on the body; under wing-coverts black : " bill black, feet
pale coral-rcd, iris cherry-red " LorkC) : " iris holly-berry red, bill black, inside of mouth and throat grassgreen,
legs aud feet the colour of pink coral " {F. II. II. Gmllemard). Total length 12 inches, culnicn 27,
wing 6-45, tail 3-15, tarsus 175 ; threads reaching 10-2 inches iieyond the flank-feathers.
Adult female. General colour above bright chestnut-red ; back of the neck aud sides of the same black •