Field 



News 



Pvblished Monthly by Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago 



Vol. 4 



APRIL, 1933 



No. 4 



THE BOWER BIRD, AN AESTHETE 

 OF THE ANIMAL KINGDOM 



By Rudyerd Boulton 

 Assistant Curator of Birds 



One generally thinks of an aesthetic sense, 

 the appreciation of color, form, and sound 

 for their own sakes, as an attribute solely 

 of human beings. For example, there is no 

 evidence that a bird will select for its mate 

 one that is more brightly colored than its 

 fellows, or that sings, to our ears, more 

 beautifully than other birds. Detailed 

 studies indicate that the songs of birds are 

 expressions of physical vigor, 

 and many songs are known to 

 be warnings to rivals rather 

 than invitations to mates. 



The bower birds of New 

 Guinea and Australia, how- 

 ever, definitely display a sense 

 of beauty which makes them 

 unique in the animal kingdom. 

 It is the habit of these birds 

 to build complicated struc- 

 tures, which they decorate in 

 various ways and use as play- 

 grounds during the period of 

 courtship and mating. 



A habitat group of the New 

 Guinean fawn-breasted bower 

 bird was recently installed in 

 Stanley Field Hall. This is a 

 species which builds a bower 

 on the ground, with platforms 

 at each end, constructed of 

 twigs and sticks by the male 

 bird. He devotes about two 

 weeks to the task and performs 

 a remarkable feat of architec- 

 ture. One platform is plain, 

 but the other is definitely deco- 

 rated with fresh and colorful 

 berries, fruits, and leaves. 

 These are not eaten; they are 

 purely for ornamentation. 

 They are replaced at frequent 

 intervals, and the bird carries 

 the old withered decorations 

 to a neatly maintained rubbish pile near-by, 

 instead of scattering them about indis- 

 criminately. On the decorated platform 

 the male performs a courtship dance, while 

 the female stands on the undecorated plat- 

 form at the opposite end of the bower to 

 watch. When the courtship is over, a nest 

 is built high in a tree near-by, and the bower 

 is used as a playground by the male. 



The Museum group, consisting of both 

 male and female birds, and a bower, illus- 

 trates the courtship stage. The birds and 

 the bower were collected near the Sepik 

 River in New Guinea by Assistant Curator 

 Karl P. Schmidt and Walter A. Weber 

 while members of the Cornelius Crane 

 Pacific Expedition of Field Museum in 1929. 

 The birds were mounted by Assistant 

 Taxidermist John W. Moyer. 



Another species of bower bird uses shells 

 and shiny pebbles for decorations, while a 

 third species builds a mossy roofed hut 

 and distributes flowers and bright petals 

 on the carefully leveled dooryard of moss, 

 renewing them as fast as they wither. An 



Australian bower bird has recently adopted 

 as cherished decorations for its playground 

 pieces of broken china and glass bottles, 

 showing that the selection of materials is 

 not an iron-bound, inherent mechanical 

 reflex. Here, indeed, is an artistic genius 

 among bower birds! One can think of many 

 parallels in human society, but conscious 

 effort devoted to a non-utilitarian result is 

 not common among animals. The hoarding 

 of bright-colored objects by jays and crows 

 is one of the few comparable instances 

 known. Activity of this kind is, no doubt, 

 an outgrowth of secondary sexual charac- 



Bower Bird Group in Stanley Field Hall 

 The male bird is seen performing his courtship dance on the platform decorated with 

 fruits and berries, while the female watches through the bower. 



teristics, such as the drumming of the ruffed 

 grouse and the dancing of the prairie chicken, 

 which, as in the case of the bower birds, 

 is performed by the males whether or not 

 any females are present. It is dangerous 

 to describe these actions in the anthropo- 

 morphic terms of human psychology and 

 behavior, yet, in default of detailed modern 

 studies, one is left no choice. 



Gift from C. Suydam Cutting 



Through the generosity of C. Suydam 

 Cutting of New York, Field Museum has 

 received an extremely interesting collection 

 of birds and mammals from Upper Burma. 

 The collections were made by Lord Cran- 

 brook and Captain F. Kingdon Ward. 

 Among the most interesting specimens are 

 several rare water shrews and moles, and 

 paratypes of two species of new babbling 

 thrushes, recently described by N. B. 

 Kinnear of the British Museum (Natural 

 History). A pair of very rare blood pheas- 

 ants is also included. 



JEHOL PAGODA MODEL 

 ON EXHIBITION 



By Berthold Laufer 

 Curator, Department of Anthropology 



An exact miniature reproduction of a 

 pagoda in the imperial palace of Jehol, 

 China, the region recently invaded by the 

 Japanese, is on exhibition in the South 

 Gallery on the second floor at Field Museum. 

 The original of this pagoda, which is 

 octagonal in shape, contains nine stories 

 and is 213 feet high. It is one of the finest 

 pagodas in northern China. 



Between the years 1751 and 

 1765, the Emperor K'ien-lung 

 made four journeys through 

 the midland provinces of his 

 empire. On his visits to Nan- 

 king and Hangchow he was 

 deeply impressed by the two 

 famed pagodas of these cities 

 — the Pao-en-ta ("Pagoda for 

 the Reward of Kindness") and 

 the Leu-ho-ta ("Pagoda of Six 

 Harmonies"), models of which 

 are also shown in the Mu- 

 seum's collection. He desired 

 to have these reproduced in 

 his summer palace at Jehol, 

 where he had erected a temple 

 in 1751. The plan was carried 

 out, but one of the two pagodas 

 was destroyed by fire and the 

 other collapsed on its com- 

 pletion. 



The geomancers counseled 

 and gave the verdict that 

 southern monuments must not 

 be built in the north. The 

 emperor, however, scorned 

 tL'A^ their decision and ordered 

 fl^^ new and more solid building 

 ^l^^l material. After ten years' 

 labor, the pagoda was com- 

 pleted. Its story is told in an 

 inscription engraved on a 

 stone tablet and composed by 

 the emperor. The tablet is 

 set up in front of the pagoda on a terrace 

 enclosed by a stone rail, and is reproduced 

 in the Museum model. Five lion cubs 

 playing with a ball are carved in high relief 

 on the top. Each side is adorned with a 

 dragon in clouds striving for the flaming 

 pearl. Each story has four doors and four 

 windows. The pinnacle is in the shape of 

 an Indian stupa (tope). 



The territory of Jehol formed part of 

 Chi-li Province under the Manchu dynasty 

 (1644-1911). Originally inhabited by roving 

 Mongols, it was part of Inner Mongolia to 

 which it also belongs geographically. It 

 never was part of or in any way connected 

 with Manchuria. For many centuries the 

 country has been settled by Chinese agricul- 

 turists. The Mongols returned to their 

 steppes, and through hard labor the Chinese 

 farmers transformed the inhospitable moun- 

 tain region into fertile land. 



The Museum's economic botany collec- 

 tions include a display of oils, resins and 

 lacquers. 



