264 Birds. 



small wild fig with which the branches are loaded, an 

 abundant supply of a favourite food : this species also 

 commits considerable depredation on ripening corn. It 

 appears to have particular times in the day for feeding, 

 and when thus engaged among the low shrub-like trees, 

 I have approached within a few feet without creating 

 alarm; but at other times I have found this bird ex- 

 tremely shy, especially the old males, which not unfre- 

 quently perch on the topmost branch of the loftiest tree, 

 whence they can survey all around, and watch the move- 

 ments of the females and their young in the brush below. 

 Besides the loud liquid call peculiar to the male, both sexes 

 frequently utter a harsh, unpleasant, guttural note, indica- 

 tive of surprise or displeasure. The old black males are 

 exceedingly few in number, as compared with the females 

 and young male birds in the green dress, from which, and 

 other circumstances, I am led to believe that at least two, 

 if not three years, elapse before they attain the rich satin- 

 like plumage, which, when once perfectly assumed, is, 

 I believe, never again thrown off. The extraordinary 

 bower-like structures alluded to above, are usually placed 

 under the shelter of the branches of some overhanging 

 tree in the most retired part of the forest, and differ 

 considerably in size. The base consists of an extensive 

 and rather convex platform of stick, 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 materials 

 are so placed, that the forks of the twigs are always pre- 

 sented outwards, by which arrangement not the slightest 

 obstruction is offered to the passage of the birds. The in- 

 terest of this curious bower is much enhanced by the 

 manner in which it is decorated at and near the entrance 

 with the most gaily-coloured articles that can be collected, 

 such as the blue tail-feathers of the Eose-bill and Pen- 

 nantian parrots, bleached bones, the shells of snails, &c. ; 

 some of the feathers are stuck in among the twigs, while 

 others with the bones and shells are strewed about near 



