upon insufficient details. The first available name for the species is P. nigricans of Shaw, though such a 
title is not particularly applicable to a bird which is yellow underneath, hut the name has been adopted 
by Count Salvadori, and recent ornithologists have followed him. 
I he genus Seleucicles is remarkable for the elongated shafts to the flank-plumes, which represent 
six thread-like wires on each side of the body. The tail is square and not lengthened as in Epimachus ; 
hut the genus Seleucicles belongs to the same long-billed section of the Birds of Paradise, which also 
includes the Rifle-birds ( Ptilorhis ) and the Sickle-billed genus Drepanornis. It differs from the latter 
in its thread-like flank-shafts, and from Ptilorhis in the want of a metallic pectoral shield. 
The Twelve-wired Bird of Paradise is only found in New Guinea and the adjoining island of Salawati. 
In the latter it has been obtained by Dr. Wallace, by Bernstein, von Rosenberg, and Dr. Beccari. In 
New Guinea it has been found in the north-western and in the south-eastern districts. Thus Dr. Wallace 
met with the species at Dorei, von Rosenberg at Andai, Dr. Beccari at Wa Samson, D’Albertis at Sorong, 
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 call-note can be heard from a long distance olf: 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 C6-c6-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 it as a lowland species, “ evidently common about sixty miles inland 
from Port Chalmers, west of Port Moresby.” Dr. Loria lias obtained the species at Veimauri, on the left 
bank of the Vanapa, in October. 
The following account of the species is given by Dr. A. R. Wallace in bis ‘ 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 arid 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 ‘ call-cab,’ 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 Paradisese. 
“ In the island of Salawati the natives search in the forests till they find the sleeping-place 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 either shoot 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 the 
Red Paradise-birds are caught in Waigiou.” 
The first specimen of this species brought alive to Europe was apparently a bird presented by Signor G. 
E. Serruti to the King of Italy. It survived but a few months. Another specimen was received by 
the Zoological Society of London in 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 and lived for some time 
on board the ‘ Marchesa ’ : — “During our visit to Salawati we were fortunate enough to acquire a living 
specimen of this exquisite species. The way they arc caught appears almost incredible. The native 
searches in the forest until, by the droppings, he has discovered the usual roosting-plaee of the species. 
He conceals himself 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, 
