516 



NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS. 



lighter grayish beneath, and streaked with dusky on throat, breast, and flanks. Its 

 song is very celebrated. To quote Mr. Seebohm : " Its voice is marvellously rich and 

 flute-like. The call-note during the pairing season sounds like the words ' who are 

 you ' in a full, rapid whistle ; and its song is a wheet, ft, vee-o, whence its vernacular 

 name in Holland of ' Kiel-i-vee-vo.' Some slight modifications in its song are appar- 

 ently produced by prefixing or interluding its call-note. It is a pity the song is so 

 short; for in quality it is scarcely exceeded by the song of any other bird." It feeds 

 principally on insects and fruit, and may in the summer do considerable damage to 

 the cherries. 



We shall regard the family of PARADIS.EID^E, or birds-of-Paradise as composed of 

 three distinct sub-families, the bower-birds, the long-billed Paradise birds, and the 



FIG. 254. Oriohis oriolus, golden oriole. 



true, typical Paradisaeinae. The first mentioned group is possibly linked to some 

 Timaliine forms, with which Sharpe puts it, but the fact that a supposed bower- 

 bird, Sericulus xanthogaster, was shown by Salvador! in 1876 to be the young of 

 Xanthomelus aureus, one of the long-billed Paradise birds, is quite suggestive. 



The bower-birds are peculiar to Australia and New Guinea, one of the oldest and 

 best known species being the satin bower-bird (Ptilonorhynchus violaceus) figured 

 on the plate facing this page. It is a large bird, of the size of a common magpie, 

 the male purplish black, the female chiefly grayish green, underneath pale yellowish, 

 barred crosswise with dusky. The bower-birds have received their name from the 

 peculiar structures which they build apparently only for the purpose of pleasure as 

 sporting-places where the males meet to pay their court to the females, and which are 



