224 INSECTIVOROUS BIRDS 



birds, it will move about according to the food supply. 

 Native fruits are largely eaten, and domesticated shrubs are 

 haunted while any fruit remains upon them. 



On the Bass River, in September, 1897, I was informed 

 the birds came daily to feed upon the fruit of some very 

 large pittosporum trees (30 feet high) and enjoyed it, while 

 sparrows that had eaten it were found to be upon the 

 ground beneath the foliage quite stupefied, and it is 

 presumed by eating from the same trees. It takes many 

 years for a male bird to get the glossy plumage, and this is 

 possibly why one seldom sees more than two black males 



Fig. 49. Head of Satin Bower-bird (nostrils hidden). Natural size. 



in a flock of fifty greenish birds. The call heard by myself 

 seemed to come from a depth in the throat, and was like 

 the distant roll of machinery. One can hear this from the 

 birds in the Zoological Gardens. The nest is placed high 

 in the trees, and the bower, a playground, is placed upon 

 the earth. The sexes meet, sport their finery, and have a 

 delight in collecting the brightly-coloured objects of the 

 country in their environment. They gather sticks and 

 twigs, and interweave them so that an appearance is made 

 just like one long half of a thin 2-foot drain pipe, but upon 

 a firmer base. At each end they loosely place brightly- 



