592 



dreatfurp 0f Datura! $2ttarg) ; 



of the upper parts was a light ashy gray. 

 These birds were very active, moving about 

 the yard with a leap rather than a step." 

 They are said to make their nests in the 

 hollows of trees, and to lay two eggs. 



SARDINE. (Clupea sardina.) A fish 

 closely allied to the Pilchard, though smaller. 

 It is found in the Mediterranean, and its 

 flesh is highly esteemed. 



SATIN BUWER BIRD. (.Ptilonorhyn- 

 chus holosericeua.) Mr. Gould, to whose 

 splendid work on the ' Birds of Australia' 

 we are so much indebted, observes, that al- 

 though this species has been long known to 

 ornithologists, and is familiar to the co- 

 lonists of New South Wales, its habits have 

 never been brought before the scientific 

 world ; and he very naturally congratulates 

 himself on being the first to place them on 

 record. One point to which he more par- 

 ticularly alludes a point, as he truly says, 

 " of no ordinary interest, both to the natu- 

 ralist and the general admirer of nature 

 is the formation of a bower-like structure 

 by this bird for the purpose of a playing 

 ground or hall of assembly, a circumstance 

 in its economy which adds another to the 

 many anomalies connected with the fauna 

 of Australia. ' It appears to be altogether 

 granivorous and frugivorous. " Indepen- 

 dently of numerous berry-bearing plants 

 and shrubs, the brushes it inhabits are 

 studded with enormous fig-trees, some of 

 them towering to the height of two hundred 

 feet ; among the lofty branches of these 

 giants of the forest, the Satin Bower-bird 

 and several species of Pigeons find in the 

 small wild fig, with which the branches are 

 loaded, an abundant supply of a favourite 

 food : this species also commits considerable 

 depredation on any ripening corn near the 

 localities it frequents." The extraordinary 

 bower-like structures above alluded to are 

 usually placed under the shelter of the 

 branches of some overhanging tree in the 

 most retired part of the forest : " the base 

 consists of an extensive and rather convex 

 platform of sticks 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 presented 

 outwards, by which arrangement not the 

 slightest obstruction is offered to the pas- 

 sage of the birds. For what purpose these 

 curious bowers are made, is not yet, perhaps, 

 fully understood ; they are certainly not 

 used as a nest, but as a place of resort for 

 many individuals of both sexes, which, when 

 there assembled, run through and around 

 the bower in a sportive and playful manner, 

 and that so frequently that it is seldom en- 

 tirely deserted. The proceedings of these 

 birds have not been sufficiently watched, to 

 render it certain whether the runs are fre- 

 quented throughout the whole year or not ; 

 but it la highly probable that they are 



merely resorted to as a rendezvous, or play- 

 ing ground, at the pairing time and during 

 the period of iucubation." In the British 

 Museum specimens of these Bowers may be 

 seen. 



The whole plumage of the male is of a deep 

 shining blue-black, closely resembling satin, 

 with the exception of the primary wing- 

 feathers, the wing-coverts, and the secon- 

 daries and tail-feathers, which are of a deep 

 velvety black, tipped with the shining blue- 

 black lustre ; irides light blue, with a circle 

 of red round the pupil ; bill bluish horn, 

 with yellow tip ; legs and feet yellowi^i 

 white. The female has the head and all 

 the upper surface grayish green ; wings and 

 tail dark sulphur brown ; under surface 

 much lighter, and yellowish, each feather 

 having a crescent-shaped mark of dark 

 brown near the extremity. Besides the loud 

 liquid call peculiar to the male, both sexes 

 frequently utter a harsh, unpleasant, gut- 

 tural note, indicative of surprise or dis- 

 pleasure. 



The SPOTTED BOWER-BIRD. (ChJamj/- 

 dera maculata.) The able ornithologist 

 from whom we derived the information 

 given in the preceding article, observes, that 

 this species is as exclusively an inhabitant 

 of the interior of the country as the Satin 

 Bower-bird is of the brushes between the 

 mountain-ranges and the coast, and is es- 

 pecially interesting as the constructor of a 

 bower, even more extraordinary than that 

 of the latter. But to describe them fully we 

 must borrow the author's own words : 

 "They are considerably longer and more 

 avenue-like than those of the Satin Bower- 

 bird, being in many instances three feet in 

 length. They are outwardly built of twigs, 

 and beautifully lined with tall grasses, so 

 disposed that their heads nearly meet ; the 

 decorations are very profuse, and consist of 

 bivalve shells, crania of small mammalia, 

 and other bones. Evident and beautiful in- 

 dications of design are manifest throughout 

 the whole of the bower and decorations 

 formed by this species, particularly in the 

 manner in which the stones are placed 

 within the bower, 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, &c., are 

 placed in a heap before the entrance of the 

 avenue, this arrangement being the same at 

 both ends. ... I frequently found these 

 structures at a considerable distance from 

 the rivers, from the borders of which they 

 could alone have procured the shells and 

 small round pebbly stones ; their collection 

 and transportation must therefore oe a task 

 of great labour and difficulty. As these 

 birds feed almost entirely upon seeds and 

 fruits, the shells and bones cannot have 

 been collected for any other purpose than 

 ornament ; besides, it is only those that 

 have been bleached perfectly white in the 

 sun, or such as have been roasted by the 

 natives, and by this means whitened, that 

 attract their attention. I fully ascertained 



