214 



CONIROSTRES. 



cat. In the autumn they congregate in small flocks, 

 and are then often seen on the ground. The adult 

 males of the Satin Bower-birds are more rarely seen 

 than the females and old males, and these latter are 

 supposed to be from two to three years old before 

 they exhibit their rich glossy black plumage. They 

 feed on various berries and fruits, especially wild 

 figs and the native cherry, which, when ripe, forms 

 their chief food. They are very destructive to the 

 ripening crops of the settlers. 



The typical species is named — 



The Satin Bower-bird {Ptilorhynchus holosericus). The 

 localities favourable to the habits of the Satin-bird are 

 the luxuriant and thick ly-foliaged brushes stretching 

 along the coast of the Australian continent, from Port 

 Phillip to Moreton Bay. It is not migratory, but ranges 

 from one district to another, either for the purpose of 

 varying the nature of its food or of obtaining a more, 

 abundant supply. It appears to be wholly granivorous 

 or frugivorous, or, if not exclusively so, insects form but 

 a small portion of its diet. Independently of numerous 

 berry-bearing plants and shrubs, the brushes it inhabits 

 are studded with enormous fig-trees, some of them 

 towering to the height of two hundred feet. Among the 

 lofty branches of these giants of the forest, the Satin 

 Bower-bird and several species of Pigeons find, in the 

 small white fig with which the branches are loaded, an 

 almndaiit supply of a favourite food ; they also commit 

 considerable depredations on ripening corn. These birds 

 have the remarkable habit of forming a bower-like struc- 

 ture, which seems to serve them as a playing-ground or 

 hall of assembly. Their bowers are usually placed under 

 the shelter of the branches of some overhanging tree, in 

 the most retired part of the forest. The base consists of 

 an extensive and rather convex platform of sticks, firmly 

 interwoven, on the centre of which the bower itself is 

 built. This, like the platform on which it is placed, and 

 with which it is interwoven, is formed of 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 



