^1956 er J Wakefield. /?<>:irr-/>r></ tisit.? MrHuturtic 119 



the "tractor's starter-motor"— a most apt description — this being 

 rendered quite loudly and sustained, with variations, for ahuut 

 twenty or thirty seconds. Outstanding amongst the mimicry was 

 the call of the Kookaburra; it did hreak into the full "lnugir and 

 rendered this much better than the Lyrebird usually doe.--. It gave. 

 too, a half-minute imitation of the repeated whistling of the While- 

 plumed Iloneyeater and a somewhat shorter rendition of the rather 

 similar call of the White-throated Treecreeper. These three items 

 were always done in full voice. By turning up the volume of the 

 recording, one could hear quite plainly the flying calls of a party 

 of Gang-gang Cockatoos and the chorus of a flock of Australian 

 Ravens : these recurred several times each but were normally hardly 

 audible as the performance progressed, and there were always super- 

 imposed on them, without breaking their continuity. numerou> of 

 the loud, har^h notes of the bower-bird itself. 



.Much of the bird's time was spent on the window-sills of the 

 house next door. Xo, 43, so acquaintance was made with the neigh- 

 bour. Mr. \Y. J. M. Davey, who proved to be as interested in the 

 bower-bird, and in feeding it. as were the Berrigans. Moreover, his 

 garden, with a great silky-oak and some acacias, as well as masses 

 of large exotic shrubs, was an even more suitable habitat for the 

 bushland visitor. The Dave)- house, too, was made open for natural 

 historv operations. 



During August, the activities of the bird were closely observed 

 from time to time. One became familiar with its natural call — a 

 "clear whistle, from tenor down to base*', as it is described in Xcsts 

 and Eggs of Australian Birds; this was usually alternated two or 

 three times with a shorter, lower-pitched whistle. 



It was noted that the bower-bird often brought a certain piece of 

 blue knitting-needle to the window-sills, and that it always took 

 away scraps of blue cloth that were put out for it. Mr. Berrigan 

 suggested that it must have a bower somewhere, and an unsuccess- 

 ful search was made amongst the massed shrubbery which sur- 

 rounds MY. Davey's garden. 



One evening, the latter gentleman reported by telephone that the 

 bird had a collection of blue articles under shrubs in a central garden 

 bed in front of the house. This was taken to be one of those rudi- 

 mentary bowers such as females and juvenile males sometimes 

 build, but when it was investigated a few days later, it proved to 

 be a perfect playground — platform and bower complete. 



It was situated under a Japanese Maple and a large Pink Pearl 

 rhododendron, and it was partly concealed from view by a clump of 

 azaleas. The stick platform was about three feet across and the twin 

 walls of erected twigs made a small but perfect arbour. Sure enough, 

 it was decorated with the scraps of blue cloth, and the piece of 

 knitting-needle was there too. But as well, there were two blue- 

 lettered cream-bottle tops, a large piece of blue glass and one 

 greenish piece, the blue-stained centre of a Biro pen. and about 



