Twelve-wired Bird of Paradise

Abstract

IT may be interesting to many of your readers to know that a specimen of the rare and beautiful twelve-wired Paradise Bird (Seleucides alba) is now alive in the Royal Zoological Gardens at Florence. Signor G. E. Cerruti, who has recently returned from an official tour in the Moluccas and New Guinea, writes me that he obtained it from the Rajah of Salwatty, and that although very wild at first, it soon became tame and quiet; and that he had very little trouble in bringing it home. Here is another proof that these wonderful birds can be brought to Europe without difficulty, and once here, with proper care and ample space, there is little doubt they would be long-lived.