Courtship 



to draw attention to his dazzling brilliancy, thus 

 suddenly displayed, he literally rattles his long tail 

 coverts and lowers his head in respectful homage. The 

 ill-mannered hen usually ignores his efforts to win her 

 affections. 



The bower-birds, which are related to our common 

 starlings, are among the most curious of birds, as far as 

 their behaviour is concerned. The males build wonderful 

 shelters of sticks and other material and ornament them 

 for the benefit of the hens they hope to win. By some 

 naturalists it is thought that the hens select as mates the 

 birds which build the best bowers and shelters ; for note 

 that the males alone are concerned in the building of 

 these remarkable structures. The bowers vary archi- 

 tecturally according to the species, but, in general, they 

 take the form of short tunnels. At the entrance the males 

 place all the bright-coloured objects they can collect, 

 bits of ribbon, shells, old bleached bones, etc. 



When the male is courting, he takes some gaudy flower 

 in his beak, or a shell maybe, and chases the object of 

 his affections through and around the bower, the while he 

 gives vent to a strange whistling note and droops his 

 wings alternately. One species of bower-bird decorates 

 the entrance to his shelter in lavish manner. First of 

 all he lays down a carpet of the greenest moss he 

 can find, and on this carpet, which he keeps scrupu- 

 lously clear of rubbish, he arranges flowers, fruits and 

 brightly coloured fungi. As these transient decorations 

 wither, they are thrown away and replaced by fresh 

 material. 



Yet another species has other architectural ideas and, 

 instead of the usual tunnel, he constructs a giant pyramid, 

 often six feet high, and decorates its walls with flowers. 

 On the other hand, there are bower-birds which build no 

 bowers, merely clearing a patch of ground on which the 

 better to display their good looks before the females. In 

 any event, the bowers are nothing to do with the nests, 



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