BIRDS OF PARADISE 



1503 



Inhabiting the island of Salwatti and the northwestern parts of Xew Guinea, 

 the twelve-wired bird of paradise, according to Mr. Wallace, "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 



TWELVE WIRED BIRD OF PARADISE. 

 (One-third natural size.) 



very rapid. It seldom rests more than a few moments on one tree, after which it 

 flies off, and with great swiftness, to another. It has a loud, shrill cry, to be heard 

 a long way off, consisting of cak, 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 para- 



