SBEIOULUS. 181 



Genus SERICULUS, Swainson. 



SERIOULUS MELINUS, Latham. 

 Regent Bird. 

 Gould, Handhk. Bds. Aust., Vol. i., sp. 282, p. 456. 



" This, perhaps, the most beautiful of all the Bower-builders, 

 and one of the earliest known species, was described by Latham 

 in 1801, under the name of Turdus melinus; since that date, 

 however it has been redescribed many times and under various 

 names, of which that given to it by Swainson, S. chrysoceplMlus, 

 appears the most appropriate, if not the oldest. Dr. Ramsay 

 discovered the bower of this species on Ash Island in 1861, 

 (although at the time he was not aware that it belonged to this 

 species), and again in 1866 while in the Richmond River district, 

 an account of which is given in the Ibis for 1867, p. 456, as follows: 

 ' Allow me to confirm the facts respecting the bower-building 

 habits of the Regent-bird, (Sericulus melinus). Several years 

 ago (September 23rd 1861) I found what I thought was the bower 

 of the Satin-bird ( Ptilonorhynchus holosericeus); but it was a very 

 small one, and in my diary I mentioned that ' the only birds seen 

 near it were two or three Regent-birds.' I thought no more of 

 the matter until I saw some remarks on the subject by Mr. Coxen 

 of Brisbane. [Cf. Gould, Handbook Birds Australia, Vol. i., pp. 

 458 — 461.] During my visit to the Richmond River I determined 

 to pay close attention to the fact, and was not long before I had 

 an opportunity of making some observations. On the 2nd of 

 October 1866, when returning to our camp, some twenty miles 

 from the township, I stopped to look for an Atrichia, which, three 

 days before I had heard calling at a certain log; and while 

 standing, gun in hand, ready to fire as soon as the bird, which 

 was at that moment in a remarkably mocking humour, should 

 show itself, I was somewhat surprised at seeing a male Regent bird 

 fly down and sit within a yard of me. Between the two I hardly 

 knew which choice to take — the Atrichia, which was singing close 

 in front of me, or the chance of finding the long-wished-for bower. 

 I decided on the former, and remained motionless for full five 



