THE 



AMERICAN 



SPORTSMAN'S JOURNAL. 



NEW YORK, THURSDAY, AUGUST 29, 1878. 



For Forest and Stream and Hod ami Cun. 



^ower and (gardener jjirds. 



[Abridged Xrom the Italian of Dr. 0. Beccarl.] 

 By T. M. Brewbr, 



T1TE brilliant colors of birds, their elegant forms and their 

 songs, exert a potent fascination and stimulate us, al- 

 most involuntarily, to a careful observation and study of these 

 peculiar forms of animal life. At the same time their inter- 

 eating habits, with the constant evidences of a superior intel- 

 ligence, inspires us with wonder. Who has not admired the 

 studied care, the patience and the ingenuity they display in 

 the creation of their nests ? Need I mention such construc- 

 tions as those of the weavers, the repubicans, the builders of 

 pensile nests, the humming-bird, and many others ? In all 

 these there is made manifest a necessity that incites it to build 

 a nest; the care taken to render the abode for its children 

 commodious, capacious, sheltered from rain and other expo- 

 sures, and inaccessible or concealed from the notice of its ene- 

 mies. 



It is now, moreover, well known that there is one entire 

 group of birds who are not content with a simple nest in 

 which to deposit their eggs and rear their young, or with 

 making use of the same as a mere place of residence. In 

 this group we find luxury, refinement, and aesthetic tastes so 

 lax combined as to induce its members to construct spec'al 

 places for their retreat, which tbey, from time to time^m- 

 bellish and adorn according to their fancy, and in which they 

 indulge in pleasures and follies of various kinds. It is to the 

 family of Birds of Paradise that these winged Sybarites 

 belong. They are species belonging to the genera Ohlamydo- 

 dcra. I'tilonorhynchus, Serieulus and Amblyornis, and inhabit 

 exclusively Australia and New Guinea. 



At present the structures of the Chlamydodcra are the best 

 known. The English call them playing-places, halls, play- 

 houses, but most commonly bowers, but which we of Italy 

 would regard as best indicated by such terms as arbors, gal- 

 leries or cabins. The birds which construct them are gener- 

 ally known as bower birds. So extraordinary did these 

 structures at first appear that nobody seemed to have deemed 

 it possible that they could be the work of any animal, and 

 they were presumed to be rude cradles made by the natives 

 for tbeir infant children. It was afterward ascertained that 

 they could not be nests, as these are made by the Ohlamydo- 

 derm after the manner of other birds, among the branches of 

 trees, in form and size not unlike those of the common jay. 

 The Oh nut'lialia is a bird not much larger than the European 

 missel thrush, of plain brown colors— not handsome, but with 

 a beautiful rose-colored spot on the back of its neck. Its 

 arbor has the, form of a straight gallery, is made of slicks 

 fastened in the ground and arranged so as to meet at the top, 

 and thus create a roof after the manner of the most primitive 

 cabins. The ground all around is strewn with shells. This 

 bird has been seen frequently to take up a shell in its beak 

 and to carry it through the gallery, tailing it now from one 

 place and now from another. In like manner the galleries of 

 the Oh. maculata are made of twigs, but are also beautifully 

 lined with tall grass, so disposed as to meet at the top. The 

 decorations are abundant and consist of bivalve shells, crania 

 Of small animals, and other bones, whitened by long exposure 

 to the solar rays. According to the accounts given by vari- 

 ous observers, these shells must have been transported quite a 

 long distance, as the nearest streams from which they could 

 have been collected are often quite remote. It has also been 

 Stated that many individuals of this species meet in the mid- 

 dle of these galleries to pay their court to the females, and 

 that the same galleries are resorted to year after year. The 

 Oh. guttata likewise constructs its galleries- with straight 

 lines,' while all around on the ground are found the stones of 

 fruit worn by the action of the sea, which is at such a dis- 

 tance that their transportation must have required a great 

 Ileal of painstaking ou the part of these birds. 



The galleries of the CA. Gervlmrnitris differ from those of 

 all the others in having walls that are much thicker and more 

 upright, though occasionally slightly inclined one toward the 

 other at the summit, and consequently the inner passage ia 

 quite narrow. This is constructed of straws fastened into a 

 platform of twigs filled with loose earth. It is about 1.20 

 metres b length, but not quite so broad. Here and there, by 

 way of decoration, are Bteewn berries, shells of snails and 

 sea-shells. One gallery was found to be 1,83 metres in length. 

 with ii height of .40, with a number of fresh berries scattered 

 over it. 



Other birds belonging to the genus Plilorynchus construct 

 galleries that display an equal degree of ingenuity. The 

 satin bower-bird, I', owlaceu.% makes a gallery similar to that 

 of the Chlamydadera, and decorates it with objects of bright 



colors such as it can collect — namely, brilliant feathers of 

 birds, bleached bones, laud shells, etc. Some of the feathers 

 are thickly intermingled with the straws, while the other 

 ornaments — the bones and the shells — are scattered about 

 near the entrance of these structures. The disposition which 

 this bird manifests to appropriate for itself every, attractive 

 object it meets with is so great that the natives search their 

 galleries in quest of articles they may have lost. Stone 

 hatchets are said to have been found in them, as well as frag- 

 ments of blue cotton cloth, probably picked up from some 

 encampment of the natives. 



It may here be remarked tliat the instinct that prompts its 

 members to collect bright, shiuing objects, so common a pe- 

 culiarity of the crow family, and one so well known, indi- 

 cates their hardly doubtful relationship to the birds of Para- 

 dise. Can it be that here by chauce we find indicated by 

 these habits well marked evidences of an inherited moral 

 character, indicating traces of a common origin in the long 

 distance? Then, too, there is the regent-bird, Serieulus me- 

 linus, which also builds for itself a gallery, in which it 

 amuses itself and meets its lady-love, but these are described 

 as having little or no ornament. Couut Salvador! is of the 

 opinion that the Xantomelus aureus will also be found to con- 

 struct similar places of retreat, and I was informed when in 

 Papua that it builds a nest ou the ground. It may be that 

 this so-called nest really refers to a gallery similar to that of 

 allied species. 



These constructions are spoken of as the most marvelous in- 

 stances that have ever been discovered of the architecture of 

 birds. But how insignificant are they in comparison with those 

 of the Amblyornis inornata, which I am about to describe. 



I have thus passed carefully in review all that is known of 

 all the most remarkable achievements of other species, that we 

 may be able all the belter to appreciate the genius of this 

 wonderful creature, which, under so modest an exterior, con- 

 ceals the best developed intellect of anv member of the entire 

 class of birds. 



And when we consider that the family to which the Am- 

 blyornis belongs, as do all that construct galleries, the birds of 

 paradise, and that this family combines with species possess- 

 ing the greatest elegance of plumage, others that manifest the 

 greatest development of intellect, we seem justified in regard- 

 ing it as the most perfect representative of the entire class. It 

 is noteworthy that among the birds of Paradise those that are 

 adorned with beautiful feathers do not construct bowers. This 

 is a gift exclusively to those members of this family that have 

 the most modest plumage, and it would seem as if the intelli- 

 gent mind of these led them, in their endeavors to distinguish 

 themselves, to pursue a different course from those that com- 

 bine in their own person so high a grade of physical beauty. 



The Amblyornis inornata, which I propose to call the 

 gardener, is a bird about the size of our missel thrush. Its 

 specific name well characterizes its unattractive appearance. 

 It is entirely destitute of ornament, and is probably, of all its 

 family, the most wanting in bright colors. It is almost wholly 

 of an obscure shade of brown, with a rufous tinge, and there 

 is no appreciable difference between the sexes. It was found 

 several years since by the hunters of Count Rosenberg, but 

 the first, notices of its constructing, which were; spoken of as 

 nests, were given me by the hunters of Signor Bruiju. These 

 had made an attempt to transport one entire to Jernate, but 

 were unsuccessful, on account of its great size and the diffi- 

 culties of the road. 



On the 20th of June, 1875, 1 had the very great good for- 

 tune to be able to examine one in the remote mountain re- 

 cesses where it had been constructed. It was on the fifth day 

 after we had left Andai, going direct to Hatam, on Mt. Arfak. 

 I had been compelled to remain a whole day at Warmendi, in 

 order that my carriers might rest. And on this day I was 

 accompanied by only five men, as I had been obliged to leave 

 behind me several of my hunters, down with the fever, and 

 my other carriers did not consider themselves sufficiently 

 rested. 



I had left early in the morning ; it was already an hour 

 past noon, and we wero still moving on in a very fatiguing 

 course. We had allowed ourselves no rest, because, we had 

 but a short distance to go before we would reach Hatam, our 

 journey's end. 



"We were passing over the slope of one of the foot-hills of 

 Mt. Arfak ; the virginal forest was lofty and lonely, havdly 

 penetrated by a single ray of the sun ; the ground was free of 

 underbrush ; a well-trodden path showed that dwellings could 

 not be far distant. We had just passed a small spring, from 

 Which it was evident the natives often came to draw water. 

 At every step I met with objects never seen by me"before ; a 

 species of Balanoplora, growing after the manner of the pe- 

 culiar knobs of the orange-tree, were on the ground all about 

 me, like so many fungi ; elegant palms and strange forms of 

 plants attracted my notice. ^ My attention was continually dis- 

 tracted by the songs and cries of birds that 1 knew must be 

 unknown and undescribed, as always happens when we ven- 

 ture into a region for the first time and never before explored. 

 Every movement of the leaves led me to anticipate some new 

 discovery ; nor was it mere anticipation, for almost every dis- 

 charge of my gun brought with it Eome new surprise The 

 bird? we met with were for the most part not only different 

 from those of the plains, but wero very often wholly new 

 to me. 



I had just shot a small marsupial as it was climbing in the 

 manner of a squirrel the bare and upright trunk of a large 



tree, when, turning suddenly round, I found myself in close 

 proximity to the path directly in front of a piece of workman- 

 ship more exquisitely lovely than the ingenuity of any animal 

 had ever before been deemed capable of constructing. It was 

 a miniature cabin in the midst of a miniature meadow, decked 

 with flowers. I recognized at once the famous " nests " that 

 had been described to me by the hunters of Bruiju, but which 

 I had always supposed must be made for another purpose 

 than that of a nest, although I was at that time in total ig- 

 norance of the constructions of the Ohlamydodera. Icon- 

 tented myself with a momentary and very superficial examina- 

 lion of this marvel, enjoining upon my hunters not to disturb 

 it. But all my experience in Papua has since convinced me 

 that these directions were unnecessary. Although directly on 

 their path, this cabin had remained untouched, showing in 

 what a friendly and peaceful estimation its inhabitants had 

 been regarded, until their evil star had brought me to disturb 

 them in their quiet and peaceftd abode. We were then at an 

 elevation of about 4,800 feet. After a half-hour"s steep ascent 

 we reached our place of destination. 



During the first few days, the putting of my house in order 

 and the urgent and necessary labor in the preservation of the 

 vast collection of new and precious specimens that had been 

 accumulating day after day on my hands, prevented my im- 

 mediate return in order to re-visit the cabin of the Amblyornis, 

 and in the meanwhile many others had been found by my 

 hunters, who in a short time succeeded in procuring a num- 

 ber of specimens of their builders. I was, in truth, very re- 

 luctant to take the lives of these industrious little birds, and I 

 had hardly allowed myself a sufficient number of specimens 

 before I renewed my directions to my hui.ters to spi re them 

 and to respect their dwellings. The first cabin that I began 

 to investigate was one nearest to my residence, toward which, 

 at last, early on one morning, my crayon in hand and with 

 my box of colors and my gun, which I gave to an Arfak to 

 carry for me, 1 set out on my visit to the habitation of the 

 Amblyornis. On my way I provided for my breakfast by 

 shooting a pair of fat doves, Carpophaga clialconota, which, 

 after the manner of its family, were feeding on fruit in the 

 upper branches of a tall tree, where they would have been un- 

 noticed had not their moving from branch to branch and their 

 throwing down the fruit betrayed their retreat. 



Reaching at last the cabin I immediately set myself at the 

 task of sketching it, which sketch I have since endeavored to 

 faithfully reproduce. At the moment of my visit the pro- 

 prietors of this abode were not at home. 1 could not well 

 spare the time that would be necessary to enable me to 

 thoroughly observe them. My hunters had been able to sur- 

 prise the birds both in the act of entering into and of leaving 

 their cabin. In order to secure specimens taken in these 

 movements they waited for them to appear about their huts, 

 so that there is no room for supposing that any other bird 

 would have been their architects. I could not ascertain with. 

 certainty whether any one cabin was frequented by a single 

 pair or by more, or whether by more males than females, or 

 the reverse ; whether the males alone construct it, or if the 

 females aid in the work, or whether they are made by the joint 

 labors of several individuals. I have, however, no doubt that 

 these cabins are used for more than a single season, from the 

 fact that the birds are continually repairing and re-embellish- 

 ing them. 



The Amblyornis selects a spot on a level with the plain, and 

 in the centre of which is a small shrub about the size of a 

 walking-stick, around the base of which it constructs a cone, 

 a span in diameter, of mosBes. This is a support to the central 

 pilaster, upon which the covering of the whole edifice is sup- 

 ported. The height of this central support is less than that 

 of the cabin, which is at least half a metre. All around from 

 the top of this pdaster, diverging outward therefrom, arranged 

 in an inclined position and in a perfectly methodical manner, 

 are placed long stems. The upper ends of these are supported 

 on the apex of the pilaster, the lower being inserted in the 

 ground, and thus all around, except in front. In this way 

 they create a conical cabin, exactly regular in the shape the 

 whole presents when the building is completed. Many other 

 stems are interwoven with it in various ways, rendering the 

 roof strong and impervious. Between the central supporting 

 pillar and the circle where the stems are inserted in the ground 

 there is left a circular gallery in the shape of a horse-shoe. 

 The entire structure has a diameter of about a metre. 



The stems made use of by the Amblyornis were the slender 

 and upright forms of a species of orchid, DmdroUum, an 

 epiphytal plant which grows in large tufis on mossy branches 

 of tall trees. It is as slender as small straws, about half a 

 metre in length. These are all living, and have adhering to 

 them their small and compact leaves ; and this plant is evi- 

 dently selected to avoid the decay or dilapidation of their 

 edifice; for these stems continue to maintain their life along 

 while, as indeed do most of the epiphytal orchids of the 

 tropics. 



The esthetic tasteB of our gardener are not restricted to the 

 construction of a cabin. The appreciation of the beautiful in 

 the Amblyornis corresponds to a remarkable degree with that 

 we witness among man : that which ia pleasing to them is 

 usually p' easing to us. A taste for beautiful flowers and for 

 gardens with us are indications of cultivation and refinement. 

 It seems strange, with such an example set them by this bird, 

 that the natives of Arfak should manifest so little taste or 

 decency in their own dwellings. 



But now let us see how the gardens of the Amblyornis are 



