2i6 CURIOUS HOMES AND THEIR TENANTS. 



"Were this account not vouched for by sober, un- 

 imaginative scientific men, it might well be doubted, 

 but a i-eference to recent ornithological reports will 

 not only give fuller details of the matter, but tell of 

 other more recently discovered varieties of the gar- 

 den bird, that build structures of a difEerent kind that 

 are equally as surprising as those here described. 



It is safe to say that nothing so strange and 

 beautiful, among homes built without hands, will ever 

 be found on this planet of ours as the summer houses 

 and pleasure grounds of the garden birds of ISTew 

 Guinea. Nature has more than compensated for the 

 deprivation of superb plumage such as that given 

 the bird of paradise, by bestowing upon the garden 

 birds the ability to make little paradises to gratify 

 their inborn love of beauty, that seems inherent in the 

 whole family. 



FUN-LOVING KAGUS, 



AND THEIR QUEER ACTIONS. 



There is in the Zoological Gardens in London a 

 bird A^hose aviary is constantly surrounded by groups 

 of children shouting with laughter and vigorously 

 applauding, as if they were witnessing the perform- 

 ance of some favorite play-actor, comedian, or panto- 

 mimist, instead of the antics of a rather common- 

 place-looking fowl, neither as remarkable for shape 

 or plumage as many another about him. 



