The Spotted Bower-bird 135 



the Large Spotted Bower-bird {Chlamydodera guttata) at 

 some miles' distance from the sea-shore, and yet the birds 

 had decorated their playing-ground with sea-shells and other 

 marine debris which they must have transported all the way. 



A little while ago Mr. A. J. North sent me a sketch of a 

 curious bower made by the Spotted Bower-bird {C. metadata), 

 in which the curve of the arched twigs had been continued 

 above and formed into a second arch. The lower bower 

 measured about two feet, the one on the top (which was in 

 the centre) one foot. There was the usual complement 

 of bones, also a few of Eley's cartridge-cases. 



The run of the Spotted Bower-bird is longer than that 

 of the Satin-bird, as can be seen by any one examining 

 our specimens in the Natural History Museum. Gould 

 describes the arbours of the former species as being out- 

 wardly 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 bleached by 

 exposure to the rays of the sun, or from the camp-fires of 

 the natives. " Evident indications of high instinct," he 

 says, " are manifest in the formation of the bower and in 

 its decoration, particularly in the. manner in which the 

 stones are placed within it, apparently to keep the grasses 

 with which it is lined fixed 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 are placed in a heap before the entrance of the 

 avenue, the arrangement being the same at both ends. In 

 some of the larger bowers, which had evidently been 

 resorted to for many years, I have seen half a bushel of 

 bones, shells, etc., at each of the entrances. I frequently 

 found these structures at a considerable distance from the 

 rivers, from the borders of which they alone could have 

 procured the shells and small round pebbly stones, the 



