Nests, Eggs, and Play -grounds of Australian Bower-Birds. 15 



constructed of twigs, etc., and lined with leaves, and, on 

 being removed from its position, it fell to pieces. 



A most remarkable instance, and one fortunately for my- 

 self, happened the following season. Mr Clark went Mutton- 

 Bird {Puiffinus hrevicauda) egging on Phillip Island, when it 

 occurred to him to visit the mainland again in the neigh- 

 bourhood of his Satin- Bird's nest of the previous season. 

 The result was that he found another pair of eggs, which 

 are now in my collection. 



I never enjoyed the opportunity of taking a nest of the 

 Satin-Bird, but at Christmas-tide 1884 I saw a perfect bower 

 on the north shore of Lake King, Grippsland. The structure 

 was situated in a cleared space upon the ground, amongst 

 some bracken in open forest. The cleared space was 

 26 inches across, the bower or avenue being in the centre 

 of this space. The two parallel walls of tapering twigs were 

 about 12 inches high, by a breadth of 10 inches, and were 

 6 inches apart. The walls were somewhat curved, arching 

 towards the top. The chief decorations within the bower, 

 and round about, were the gay (red) feathers of the Crimson 

 Lory (Platycercus pennantii). 



The Satin-Bird's eggs which Dr Ramsay described in the 

 Proceedings of the Zoological Society (1875) were of an abnormal 

 type, if referable to that bird at all, hence his excuse for 

 redescribing (and rightly so) two well authenticated sets 

 collected by Mr Ealph Hargrave at Wattamola, New South 

 Wales. 



Dr A. E. Cox, Sydney, informed me that about the middle 

 of October 1876, at Mittagong, New South Wales, he found 

 a nest of the Satin-Bird situated on the top of a ti-tree 

 (Melaleuca) stump, containing two eggs which were nearly 

 incubated. 



From Mr K. Broadbent's interesting articles on the 

 "Cardwell Birds" I take, "the Black Satin Bower- Bird 

 {Ptilonorhynchus violaceus) was observed at the Herbert 

 River gorge, and quite commonly in the Herberton scrubs. 

 In the latter locality it occurred in company with the 

 Spotted Cat -Bird {^lurcedus maculosus), and the Tooth- 

 billed Bower- Bird {Scenopceus dentirostris), and Newton's 



