The Bower-birds 131 



itself is built. It consists of sticks and twigs, the latter 

 of a more slender and flexible description, with their bases 

 firmly interwoven into the platform, but with the tips 

 bent inwards so as nearly to meet at the top. The forks 

 of the twigs are always arranged so as to turn outwards, 

 and thus a clear passage is made down the centre of the 

 arbour, without offering any interference to the gambols of 

 the bird. The female assists a little in the construction of 

 the bower, but the male is the principal performer, and in 

 his courtship to the lady, as detailed by that excellent 

 observer, the late F. Strange, the cock bird becomes greatly 

 agitated, chases her about, seizes a bright feather or large 

 leaf in his bill, utters a curious kind of note, sets all his 

 feathers erect, runs round the bower, and becomes so 

 e.xcited that his eyes appear ready to start from his head, 

 while he continues opening first one wing and then the 

 other, uttering a low whistling note, and, like the Domestic 

 Cock, appears to be picking up something from the ground. 

 The bower, of which Mr. North has sent the photograph, 

 is described by him as being built on a platform of sticks 

 and twigs about three inches in thickness, the bower being 

 composed entirely of thin twigs slightly arched, some of 

 them meeting and crossing each other. One of the peculiar 

 features connected with the construction of the bower is its 

 decoration, in which the builders indulge a curious fancy. 

 Bright feathers and dead leaves form a principal element in 

 the adornment of their playing-ground, but far beyond 

 these in worth appear to be the bleached bones of animals 

 and shells, which the male evidently thinks likely to be 

 of the highest attraction to the female. With these the 

 entrance to the arbour is plentifully strewn, and Mr. North's 

 photograph shows the Golgotha-like appearance. In this 

 case, he says, there were " twelve pieces of bone of a small 

 Wallaby (consisting of portions of the skull, ear-bones, 

 lumbar vertebrae, and small bones of the feet), three pieces 



