354 



PASSEKES. BIRDS.- 



5TURXIU.E. 



colour, with the wings and tail brown ; the lower sur- 

 face is streaked with black, and the front of the neck 

 with white. The bower of this bird is placed under 

 the sheltering branches of a large tree, and is described 

 by Mr. Gould as consisting of a large platform of sticks 



firmly interwoven, on the centre of which the true 

 bower is raised, this being composed of finer and more 

 flexible twigs so arranged as to curve over, and nearly 

 meet at the top; the materials being placed so that any 

 forks on the twigs may project outwards, thus leaving 



: 



Bower of the Satin Bower-bird. 



a perfectly free passage for the birds through their 

 singular edifice. This curious structure has nothing 

 to do with the nest, but appears to be simply a place 

 of resort for numerous individuals of both sexes, which 

 play about the platform and run through the arch 

 formed by the bower seemingly for the mere purpose 

 of amusing themselves. These assemblies may, how- 

 ever, be in some way counected with the courtship of 

 the birds, although Mr. Gould states that the bower is 

 seldom entirely deserted. The platform and its vicinity 

 are always ornamented with a variety of objects, such 

 as shells and small bones, and the bower itself with 

 bright coloured feathers. Scarcely anything seems to 

 come amiss to the birds in the embellishment of their 

 favourite resort, and the natives are so well aware of 

 their habit of carrying off anything that they can fly 

 away with, that on losing any small article, they seek 

 it at the nearest bowers, not uncommonly with success. 

 THE AUSTRALIAN CAT-BIBD (Ptilonorhynchus 

 Smithii), another of these curious little architects, is 

 also a native of New South "Wales, where it has re- 

 ceived its name from its singular note, of which Mr. 

 Gould says " In comparing it to the nightly concerts 

 of the domestic cat, I conceive that I am conveying to 

 my readers a more perfect idea of the note of this 

 species than could be given by pages of description ;" 

 and from what follows, it would almost appear that 

 Mr. Gould considered the sound to be of a nature to 

 sooth the exiled Londoner with reminiscences of home. 



The Cat-bird is of a green colour, more or less spotted 

 with white. Its length is about eleven inches. 



THE SPOTTED BOWER-BIRD (Chlamydera macu- 

 lata) displays even more elegance of design in the 

 preparation of its bower than the Satin bird. Mr. 

 Gould describes the bowers of this species as " con- 

 siderably 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 instances of 

 design are manifest throughout the bower and decora- 

 tions formed by this species, particularly in the manner 

 in which the stones are placed within the bower, appa- 

 rently 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." 



The constructors of this curious edifice inhabit the 

 interior of the Australian continent. They are about 

 the same size as the Satin Bower-bird, and their plum- 

 age is of a brown colour, elegantly spotted and varie- 

 gated with yellow. The lower surface is grayish-white, 

 with indistinct brown lines on the flanks ; and across the 



