BOWER-BIRD. 169 



run through and around the "bower" in a sportive and playful manner, and that 

 so frequently, that it is seldom entirely deserted. 



"Another species, the Clilamydera'^ maculata, nearly allied to the satin 

 bower-bird, constructs a bower even more extraordinary than that just de- 

 scribed, and in which the decorative propensity is carried to a far greater 

 extent. The bowers of this bird are considerably larger and more avenue- 

 like than those of the satin bower-bird— being, in many instances, as much as 

 three feet in length. They are built of twigs, and beautifully lined with tall 

 grasses, so disposed that their heads nearly meet ; the decorations, moreover, 



a 



"V"^ 



'^^m^''^^^^ 



Fig. 89. — The SroriED Bu\vi:R-Hn;D {Chlaniydcra iiiaculnia). 



are very profuse, and consist of bivalve shells, crania of small mammals, and 

 other bones. Evident and beautiful indications of design are manifest through- 

 out the whole of this strange edifice and its decorations, particularly in the 

 manner in which the stones are placed within the enclosure, apparently to 

 keep the grasses with which it is lined fixed firmly in their places : these 

 stones diverge from the mouth of the run on each side, so as to form little 

 paths, while the immense collection of decorative materials, bones, shells, etc., 

 are placed in a heap before the entrance of the avenue— this arrangement 

 being the same at both ends. In some of the larger bowers, which had evi- 

 dently been resorted to for many years, nearly half a bushel of bones, shells, 

 and similar objects had accumulated at each of the entrances. These struc- 

 tures are frequently found at a considerable distance from rivers, from the 



* xXaavs, chlamys, a mantle ; Sipos, deros, the skin : so called because they have a rose- 

 coloured band at the back of the neck. 



