THE SATIN BOWEE-BIED 



413 



flock of these birds. The female has the head and all the upper surface 

 greyish-green; the under surface of a lighter shade, each feather with 

 a crescent shaped dark-brown mark near the tip; the iris of a deeper 

 blue than in the male. Total length 12.5 inches, culmen 1.4, wing 6.6, 

 tail 4..5, tarsus 2.15. 



These handsome birds frequent the brushes of the coastal 

 ranges, where the soil is rich and magnificent trees and shrubs 

 with abundant foliage secure moisture and shade, and furnish a 

 sufficient number of fruits of various sorts. They are partial to 

 the native figs, and, unfortunately, when clearings are made in 

 the rich timber land and orchards are planted, they will collect 

 from all around and raid upon the fruit. The settlers then 

 destroy them in numbers, and thus rapidly deplete large areas of 

 the birds. 



At the beginning of the breeding season the sexes meet in 

 curious bowers, in which the males display their finery and 

 perform amatory antics. The birds themselves prepare and 

 decorate the bowers. They are made in retired parts of the forest, 

 and under the shelter of the overhanging branches. "The base 

 consists of an extensive and rather complex platform of sticks 

 firmly interwoven, on the centre of which the bower itself is 

 built; this, like the platform on which it is placed, and with 

 which it is interwoven, is formed of sticks and twigs, but of a 

 more slender and flexible description, the tips of the twigs being 

 so arranged as to curve inwards and nearly meet at the top ; in 

 the interior the materials are so placed that the forks of the twigs 

 are always presented outwards, by which arrangement not the 

 slightest obstruction is offered to the. passage of the birds." 

 (Gould). The bower is decorated with any brilliant or curious 

 odds and ends which the birds can find in their haunts, feathers 

 of Parrots, shells, bleached bones, bits of china, broken glass and 

 the like. The male is the principal workman, though the female 

 lends assistance. The bower is only the scene of courtship. The 

 nests are open structures of twigs, lined with grass and leaves, 

 and are placed in bushes or low trees. Clutch two, the eggs with 

 a ground colour of rich cream to yellowish, irregularly blotched 

 and spotted with umber and brown, with a few purplish-grey 

 markings appearing below the surface of the shell. Dimensions 

 1.7 inch X 1.2. 



