THE SATIN BOWER BIRD. 391 



ways provide themselves with guns that will carry their charge to a 

 great distance, and employ very large shot for the purpose, as the bird 

 always perches on the summits of the loftiest trees of the neighbor- 

 hood, and would not be much damaged by the shot ordinarily used in 

 shooting. 



This species is very suspicious, so that the sportsman must maintain 

 a profound silence, or not a bird will show itself or utter its loud full 

 cry, by which the hunter's attention is directed to his victim. 



The large and important family of the Starlings now claims our 

 attention. These birds are seldom of great size, the common Starling 

 of England being about an average example of their dimensions. The 

 bill of the Starling tribe is straight until near its extremity, when it 

 suddenly curves downward, and is generally armed with a slight notch. 

 The first sub-family of these birds is that which is known by the name 

 of Glossy Starlings, so called on account of the silken sheen of their 

 plumage. 



The best representative of this little group is the celebrated Satin 

 BowEP. Bird of Australia. This beautiful and remarkable bird is 

 found in many parts of New South Wales, and, although it is by no 

 means uncommon, is so cautious in the concealment of its home that 

 even the hawk-eyed natives seem never to have discovered its nest. 



The chief peculiarity for which this bird is famous is a kind of 

 bower or arbor, which it constructs from twigs in a manner almost 

 unique among the feathered tribes. The mode of its construction, 

 together with the use to which the bird puts the building, may be learn- 

 ed from Mr. Gould's account : 



"On visiting the cedar brushes of the Liverpool range, I discovered 

 several of these bowers or playing-places ; they are usually placed under 

 the shelter of the branches of some overhanging tree in the most retired 

 part of the forest ; they differ considerably in size, some being larger, 

 while others are much smaller. The base consists of an exterior 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 inward 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 outward, by which arrangement not 

 the slightest obstruction is offered to the passage 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, who when there assembled 

 run through and round the bower in a sportive and playful manner, 

 and that so frequently that it is seldom entirely deserted. 



