THE SPOTTED BOWER BIRD. 



315 



sticks and twigs, but of a more slender and flexible description, the tips of the twigs being so 

 arranged as to curve inwards and nearly meet at the top ; in the interior of the bower, the 

 materials are so placed that the forks of the twigs are always presented outwards, by which 

 arrangement not the slightest obstruction is offered to the passage of the birds. 



' ' For what purpose these curious bowers are made is not yet, perhaps, fully understood ; 

 they are certainly not used as a nest, but as a place of resort for many individuals of both 

 sexes, who, when there assembled, run through and round the bower in a sportive and playful 

 manner, and that so frequently that it is seldom entirely deserted. 



" The interest of this curious bower is much enhanced by the manner in which it is deco- 

 rated, at and near the entrance, with the most gaily-colored articles that can be collected, such 

 as the blue-tail feathers of the Rose Hill and Lory Parrots, bleached bones, the shells of snails, 

 etc. Some of the feathers are stuck in among the twigs, while others, with the bones and 

 shells, are strewed about near the entrance. The propensity of these birds to fly off with any 

 attractive object is so well known, that the blacks always search the runs for any missing 

 article." 



So persevering are these birds in carrying off anything that may strike their fancy, that 

 they have been known to steal a stone tomahawk, some blue cotton rags, and an old tobacco- 

 pipe. At the Zoological Gardens the Bower Bird may be seen hard at work at its surface, 

 fastening the twigs or adorning the entrances, and ever and anon running through the edifice 

 with a curious loud full cry that always attracts the attention of a passer-by. The Satin 

 Bower Bird bears confinement well, and although it will not breed in captivity, it is very 

 industrious in building bowers for recreation. 



The food of this bird seems to consist chiefly of fruit and berries, as the stomachs of 

 several specimens were found to contain nothing but vegetable remains. Those which are 

 caged in Australia are fed upon rice, fruit, moistened bread, and a very little meat at inter- 

 vals, a diet on which they thrive well. It is rather a gregarious bird, assembling in flocks 

 led by a few adult males in their full plumage, and a great number of young males and 

 females. They are said to migrate from the Muri'uinbidgee in the summer, and to return in 

 the autumn. 



The plumage of the adult male is a very glossy satin-like purple, so deep as to appear 

 black in a faint light, but the young males and the females are almost entirely of an olive- 

 green. 



HARDLY less beautiful in form and plumage, and quite as interesting in habits, the 

 SPOTTED BOWER BIRD now comes before our notice. 



This specie is an inhabitant of the plains in the interior of New South Wales, and is 

 thought by Mr. Gould to be sufficiently distinct from the preceding species to warrant its 

 introduction into a separate genus. Of this species Mr. Gould makes the following valuable 

 remarks : 



"It is as exclusively an inhabitant of the forests in the interior of the country as the 

 Satin Bower Bird is of the bushes between the mountain ranges of the coast. From the 

 extreme shyness of its disposition, the bird is seldom seen by ordinary travellers, and it must 

 be under very peculiar circumstances that it can be approached so as to observe its colors. It 

 has a harsh, grating, scolding note, generally uttered when its haunts are intruded on, by 

 which its presence is detected. 



"The situation of its rans or bowers varies much. They are considerably larger and more 

 avenue-like than those of the Satin Bower Bird, being in many instances three feet in length. 

 They are outwardly built of twigs and lined with tall grasses ; the decorations are very pro- 

 fuse, consisting of bivalve shells, crania of small mammalia, and other bones. Evident indica- 

 tions of contrivance are manifest throughout the whole of the bower and its decorations, par- 

 ticularly in the manner in which the stones are arranged, apparently to keep the grasses 

 with which it is lined firmly in their places. A row of stones diverges from the mouth of 

 the run on each side, so as to form little paths, while the heap of decorative materials is 

 placed before the entrance ; this arrangement is the same at both ends. Some of the larger 



