SKEICULVS. 



6$ 



The bower-building habit of the Regent ]:)Ower-bird was confirmed by Dr. Ramsay two 

 years afterwards, by ensnaring a fine old adult male at a similar structure he found built near a 

 log in the scrub about twenty miles from Lismore, on the Richmond River, New South Wales. 

 In addition to the land-shells found inside the bower, were several berries and newly-picked 

 leaves and young shoots. The latter floral decorations are frequently used by these birds to 

 ornament their bowers in the brushes of the Tweed, Richmond, and Bellinger Rivers. 



The food of this species consists of various wild fruits, berries, and insects. At Ourimbah 

 I saw them feeding on the berries of the ink-weed (Phytolacca octandra), growing on the road- 

 side. The stomachs of specimens I examined from this locality contained a few small fruits 

 and berries, and the heads, legs, and elytra of beetles, conspicuous among the latter being the 

 brightly coloured wing-cases of Lampriiiia latrcillei, Macleay. It is also very fond of cultivated 

 fruits. Mr. 15. Lucas informs me that on the Upper Orara River lie has seen large flocks of 

 these birds, in company with the Satin Bower-birds and Cat-birds, congregate in the introduced 

 tobacco plants which flourish on the river flats, and that he used frequently to catch the Regent 

 Bower-bird bv placing some loquats under a trap when these trees were denuded of their 

 fruit. Those kept in confinement he fed principally upon bananas. I have also observed 



those in the Syd- 

 / y ^-■'fT^j' ney bird-dealers' 



shops, at various 

 times, being fed 

 on the same kind 

 of fruit. 



A nest now be- 

 fore me, found by 

 Mr.H.R.Elvery 

 near Alstonville 

 in the Richmond 

 River District, 

 on the igth Dec- 

 ember, 1896, is a 

 scanty and very 

 carelessly built 

 structure. Near 

 the tops of 



several thin, rigid, and upright leafy branchlets, some long and nearly straight twigs are placed 

 horizontally across as a foundation, and on the top of this is a loosely formed cup-shaped 

 structure, made of thinner twigs. It was built about twelve feet from the ground, the bush 

 being over-grown with Lawyer vines, and contained two slightly incubated eggs. The long 

 straight twigs laid horizontally across average thirteen inches in length, the inner cup-like 

 cavity four inches in diameter by one inch and three-quarters in depth. Another nest found by 

 him on the 13th January, 1897, and figured above, was built at the junction of three thin 

 branches of what is locally known as the Water Fig (Ficus aspera), and partially held in position 

 by several leafy twigs. Exteriorly it is roughly and irregularly formed of long twigs; the inside, 

 which is deep saucer-shape, being neatly lined with fine short twigs. In outward measure- 

 ments it averages eight inches in diameter, although a few of the long twigs first laid as a 

 foundation measure nearly twelve inches. Across the top of the deep saucer-like cavity it 

 averages four inches and three-quarters by a depth of one inch and a half. The female, after 

 being twice flushed from the nest, which contained two fresh eggs, was shot and forwarded 

 with the nest and eggs to the Trustees of the Australian Museum. I found a similar structure 



NEST .\ND EGGS OF REGENT BOWER-BIRD. 



