io6 



Marvels of the Universe 



cocks are of a dull grey colour, and purple birds are so scarce that some Australian ornithologists 

 look on the purple dress as a sort of anticipatory mourning plumage, put on by very old birds shortly 

 before their death. The Satin-bird is a common species, and usually on view in Zoological gardens, 

 where it freely builds its bower. This consists of an avenue of twigs set in a mat of the same, and 

 round and in it the male shows off, constantly jerking up one wing and dancing absurdly with a 

 leaf in his bill. His song is also amusing in the extreme, sounding like water gurgling down an 

 obstructed pipe. Like Bower-birds generally, this species decorates its bower, but uses anything 

 it can get hold of, such as shells, pebbles, bones and feathers. Other Bower-birds specialize more 

 in their decorations : the Spotted Bower-bird, for instance, not only builds a larger bower than 

 the Satin-bird, but uses more decoration, and prefers bones to most things for this purpose. This 

 species, however, is also so fond of bright metal objects that it wiU even invade isolated houses near 



Photo by'] 



A BIRD'S PLAYGROUND. 



[i. Medlaiid, F.Z.S. 



The Satin Bower-bird has built this arbour and laid out the surrounding ground with leaves, stones, beads, marbles, and 

 anything else that appears attractive, and struts about its playground with evident pleasure. 



the bush in order to steal them. Its plumage, as the name implies, is spotted, with buff on a brown 

 ground, and the male has a collar of the brightest rose-pink. 



Neither Satin nor Spotted Bower-birds can, however, compare in beauty of plumage with the 

 cock Regent-bird, which is clad in golden-yellow and velvet-black ; this bird's bower, however, 

 is small and chiefly decorated with snail-shells. But by far the most extraordinary bowers are 

 built by two species which favour flowers as decorations — Newton's Bower-bird of Queensland, 

 a brown and yellow species, and the Gardener-birds of New Guinea, which are brown, with orange 

 crests in the males. The Gardener-bird whose bower has longest been celebrated, builds a conical 

 hut round the stem of a sapling, and in front of it lays out a lawn of moss on which are laid the 

 flowers, buds and gay-coloured insects with which the bird makes the garden. As these decora- 

 tions fade they are thrown away at the back of the hut and replaced by fresh ones. An allied species, 

 whose constructions differ somewhat in detail, especially favours black objects, such as blackbeetles, 

 as decorations. 



The habits of Newton's Bower-bird, though comparatively recently made known, are, if any- 

 thing, more extraordinary. This species raises heaps of twigs round two adjacent tree-stems, a yard 



