The Bower- birds of Australia 



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on sandy pine ridges or when the myall and brigalow (species of 

 acacias) flourish. 



This bird derives its name from the beautiful spotted markings of 

 its plumage, which is of various shades of brown. The male wears on 

 the back of the neck a band, or frill, of a most exquisite shade of 

 rose-pink — a rare color in birds and only occurring in one other 

 species (not a Bower-bird) in Australia. The Spotted Bower-bird has 

 a harsh, scolding note, but it is not generally known that it is an 

 accomplished mocking bird and can mimic the vocality of many birds 

 of the bush, barking of dogs, etc. 



NEST AND EGGS OF THE REGENT-BIRD 



A farmer friend related to me an amusing story regarding the 

 mimicry of a Spotted Bower-bird. His neighbor had been driving 

 cattle to a given place and on his way back discovered a nest in a 

 prickly needle-brush (hakea). In ' threading ' the needle-like branches 

 after the ncst he thought he heard cattle breaking through the scrub 

 and the barking of dogs in the distance, and at once fancied his cattle 

 had broken away, but could see no signs of anything wrong. He 

 heard other peculiar noises, and glancing at his dog as much as to 

 say, "What does that mean?" he saw the sagacious animal with 

 head partly upturned, eyeing a Bower-bird perched in the next tree. 



The nest is somewhat loosely constructed of twigs, and is usually 

 placed in a thick bush or amongst the forked branches of a small tree. 



