380 Dr. Colin C. Simson on the Habits of 
XIX.—On the Habits of the Birds-of-Paradise and Bower- 
birds of British New Guinea. By Dr. Couin C. Simson. 
W arte in New Guinea in 1905 I journeyed across the Owen- 
Stanley range of mountains from Port Moresby to Kokoda 
Station and back, during the months of November and 
December. In my travels I visited the Moroka, Eafa, Kagi, 
and Isurava districts, and I was most of the time at fairly 
high elevations. Some of the notes that I have written are 
based on information supplied to me by my guide Anthony, 
who has frequently made expeditions into these mountains to 
collect birds. 
I have seen six of the playgrounds depicted in the first 
two photographs in the Eafa and Moroka districts, Central 
division. All of them were situated on the slope of a hill 
on ground well shaded by trees, and usually a little below 
the summit of a ridge. They were met with at an elevation, 
I think, of from 38000 to 6000 feet above sea-level. 
Each playground consists of a dome-shaped mass of twigs, 
about two feet in height and three in width. Inthis mass of 
twigs are two rounded openings communicating within and 
facing the yard in front. Situated between the two openings 
is an almost black flower-bed, composed of fibre taken from 
the stems of tree-ferns. Into this bed the bird sticks flowers, 
berries, bright-coloured leaves, and beetles. In front of this 
structure is a yard enclosed with twigs, and over this yard 
in every playground that I saw were strewn brilliant scarlet 
fruits, and sometimes a few flowers. 
The first photograph (text-fig. 26, p. 381) does not depict a 
typical playground, as there is no yard enclosed with twigs, but 
since it thus affords a good view of the garden I have chosen 
it for an illustration. Instead of the enclosed yard there 
was a forked bough suspended in front of this playground, 
one limb penetrating the fore part of the structure, while 
the bough was held in position by the other limb, which 
was fixed to the trunk of a neighbouring tree by some 
extremely tenacious glue. I should think that the united 
efforts of several birds must have been necessary to fix the 
