BIRDS. 



561 



it is not allowed to stand ; almost every day a new arrangement of the 

 ornaments is introduced, the whole reminding one of a young couple just 

 beginning housekeeping, and trying every possible arrangement of the 

 pictures and bric-a-brac. Even more wonderful is the bower of a bower- 

 bird of New Guinea, — "a cabin in miniature in the midst of a miniature 

 meadow studded with flowers." We cannot forbear quoting from Dr. 

 Beccari's account : — 



"This bird," says he, "selects for its hut and garden a spot on the 

 level of the plain, having in the centre a small shrub, with a trunk about 



^i^^sv 



K.JAHMtM- 



Fig. 4G4. — Satin bower-birds (Ptilonorhynchus violaceus), with their bower and collections. 



the height and size of a small walking-stick. Around the base of this central 

 support it constructs, of different mosses, a sort of cone about a span in 

 diameter. This cone of moss seems to strengthen the central pilaster, 

 upon the top of which the whole edifice is sustained. The height of the 

 cabin is at least twenty inches. All around, from the top of the central 

 pilaster, arranged methodically in an inclined position, are the long steins, 

 their upper ends supported on the apex of the pilaster, their lower resting 

 on the ground ; and thus all around, excepting immediately in front. In 



