STRANGE DWELLINGS. 



rest, the tail-feathers cross each other at the curves, and pre- 

 sent a very elegant appearance, though not in the least 

 resembling a lyre. In general shape the bird bears some re- 

 semblance to a small turkey, except that the legs are longer 

 and more slender, and that the feet do not resemble those of a 

 gallinaceous bird. It is rather remarkable that the egg presents 

 as curious a mixture of the insessorial and gallinaceous aspects 

 as the bird itself. 



The nest of this bird is not at all unlike that of the wren, 

 being very much of the same shape, and domed after a similar 

 fashion. The nest is, however, a very rough piece of archi- 

 tecture, composed almost wholly of twigs, roots, and various 

 sticks, which are interwoven in a very loose, but very ingenious 

 manner, so as to form a structure of tolerable firmness, which 

 can be lifted and even subjected to rough treatment without 

 being broken. At first sight it looks like those heaps of dead 

 twigs which are so common in the birch-tree, but a closer in- 

 spection shows that there is a certain regularity in the disposi- 

 tion of the sticks, and that the bird is not without method, 

 though that method be not at first apparent. 



Our last example of the Building Birds will be the well- 

 known Bower Bird of Australia {Ptilonorhynchus holosericms). 



Perhaps the whole range of ornithology does not produce a 

 more singular phenomenon than the fact of a bird building a 

 house merely for amusement, and decorating it with brilliant 

 objects as if to mark its destination. Such a proceeding marks 

 a great progress in civilisation, even among human races. The 

 savage, pure and simple, has no notion of undergoing more 

 labour than can be avoided, and thinks that setting his wives to 

 build a hut is quite as much labour as he chooses to endure. 



The native Australians have no places of amusement. They 

 will certainly dance their corrobory in one part of the forest 

 in preference to another, but merely because the spot happens 

 to be suitable without the expenditure of manual labour. The 

 Bushman has no place of resort, neither has the much farther 



