SELEUCIDES ALBA. 



TWELVE-WIRE BIRD OF PARADISE. 



PARADISEA ALBA, Gmel. Syst. Nat. (1788) vol. i. pt. i. p. 402.— Lath. Ind. Orn. (1790) vol. ii. p. 195. sp. 112.— Blumenb. Abbild. naturh. 



Gegen. (1810) pi. 96.— Bechst. Kurze Uebers. (1811) p. 133. sp. 15.— Schleg. Journ. fur Ornith. (1861) p. 386. 

 TWELVE-WIRED PARADISE-BIRD, Lath. Gen. Hist. Birds (1822), vol. hi. p. 199, pi. 48. 

 PARADISEA VIOLACEA, Bechst. Kurze Uebers. (1811) p. 133. sp. 12. 

 PARADISEA CANDIDA, Forst. Zool. Ind. p. 35. 

 PARADISEA VAILLANTI, Shaw, Nat. Misc. vol. xxiv. pi. 1025. 

 PARADISEA NIGRA, Shaw, Gen. Zool. (1809) vol. vii. pt. ii. p. 488, pi. 60. 



PARADISEA NIGRICANS, Shaw, Gen. Zool. (1809) vol. vii. pt. ii. p. 489, and (1826) vol. xiv. p. 76. 



LE NEBULEUX, Levaill. Hist. Nat. des Ois. Parad. vol. i. pis. 16 & 17.— Shaw, Gen. Zool. (1809) vol. vii. pt. ii. p. 491, pi. 61. 

 LE PROMEROPS MULTIFIL, Levaill. Hist, des Prom, et des Guep. t. 17. 

 LE PROMEROPS A DOUZE FILETS, Vieill. Gal. des Ois. t. 185. 



FALCINELLUS RESPLENDENS, Less. Trait. Orn. (1831) p. 324. sp. 1.— Vieill. Ois. dor. p. 65. 

 SELEUCIDES ACANTHYLIS, Less. Hist. Nat. des Parad. t. 36, 37, 38 ; Syn. p. 29. sp. 3. 

 LE MANUCODE A DOUZE FILETS, Vieill. Ois. dor. vol. ii. (1802) p. 29, t. 13. 



EPIMACHUS ALBUS, Wagl. Syst. Av. (1827) sp. 9.— G. R. Gray, Gen. of Birds (1845), vol. i. p. 94. sp. 2— Id. Hand-1. Birds (1869), pt. L 



p. 105. no. 1275.— Id. Proc. Zool. Soc. (1861) p. 433.— Schleg. Mus. Pays-Bas (1867), p. 95. -Wall. Proc. Zool. Soc. (1862) p. 160. 

 WHITE- WINGED PARADISE-BIRD, Lath. Gen. Hist. vol. iii. (1822; p. 197. sp. 15. 

 SELEUCIDES ALBA, Bon. Consp. Gen. Av. (1850) p. 412. sp. 1.— Wall. Malay Archip. vol. ii. p. 253. 

 SELEUCIDES RESPLENDENS, Von. Rosenb. Journ. fur Ornith. (1864) p. 123. 



Hab. New Guinea, Salwatty (Wallace) (Schlegel). 



The Twelve -wire Bird of Paradise belongs to the long-billed section of the family, and is noted for the twelve wire- 

 like filaments which spring six on a side from the long flank-plumes, and recurve backwards towards the head. It 

 is dressed in strong contrasting colours, the rich purplish black of the head and breast separated from the white 

 underparts by a brilliant line of metallic green. As yet, besides the mainland of New Guinea, it has only been 

 found on the island of Salwatty — where it does not appear to be very uncommon, as I have noticed it to be present 

 in several collections sent from that locahty — principally, however, young males and females; and the skins are 

 generally imperfect, with, like all native preparations, a stick run through the body, coming out of the mouth. Mr. 

 Wallace and his assistants procured this bird, and sent to England the finest specimens ever seen in collections; and 

 in its perfect state it truly is a magnificent species. In his work, from which I have already had occasion to quote, 

 Mr. Wallace says that "the Seleucides alba is found in the island of Salwatty, 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 

 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 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 papaya-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 showed indisputably that it 



