54 



THE HUMMING BIRD. 



{July i, 1891 



which must have been placed there very recently,' no 

 doubt having been lost by someone in the bush, but 

 at some distance from where the bower was placed ; 

 inside the bower were stones of different colours 

 mostly white, among which were two small brass 

 cartridge cases quite green with oxidation ; the sticks 

 of which the bower was formed were grey in colour : 

 the effect was very striking, and this character ran 

 through the whole of the bowers which we had the 

 good fortune to find. At Mount Anderson I found 

 a bower like the one at Yabba-Goody, but not so 

 large, in about the same situation ; the bushes in 

 which it was placed bearing a small dark purple berry 

 which I had found the birds were very fond of, this 

 bower was about 14 inches long, very likely not fin- 

 ished, with a lot of bleached bones and white stones at 

 either end and on either side of these were some pieces 

 of black charcoal and in the centre about half-a-dozen 

 stones, one nearly round an inch and a half long. 



On another occasion at a lagoon called Monkey- 

 Jarra I found another bower and heard the birds 

 calling, but they were too shy for me to get within 

 gunshot ; this bower, also, had white at one end and 

 black at the other, the birds seemed to have pulled 

 it to pieces, but after a few days it was again made 

 good. In none of the bowers were any feathers seen. 

 I found one bower and I suppose disturbed the fo- 

 liage too much, for the next day the bird had pulled 

 it all to pieces. 



One day, whilst out shooting, I came across a 

 bower and two birds a short distance from camp. As 

 this was the first occasion on which I had seen two 

 birds together near a bower I made up my mind to 

 watch them ; the bower was placed, as usual, in the 

 midst of thick bushes, and I placed myself at some 

 distance not far away in a convenient position to see 

 right through the bower. After waiting some few 

 minutes I heard the harsh screech of the bird and 

 looked round the trees to see if I could see it, but no, 

 it was not anywhere there or in the bushes from 

 whence the sound came, but whilst looking up into 

 the high trees round about where I was standing I 

 espied a large nest; this I thought at the time I would 

 get when I had done watching the birds. Happening 

 to glance down at the bower there I saw one of the 

 birds; it had escaped my notice no doubt whilst I was 

 looking up into the trees, it hopped about in and out 

 of the bower picking up a stone and placing it some- 

 where else with drooping wings and elevating its 

 spread out tail, sometimes hopping on to the branches 

 of the bush, clinging to their sides, very quick in its 

 movements, sometimes getting to the top of the bush 

 to have a look round ; hearing the call of another 

 Bower-bird some distance away I looked in the 

 direction and presently saw the bird fly into the gum 

 tree in which I had previously noticed the nest. Here, 

 thought I, is the Bower-bird's nest, I have found it 

 quite easily, what a surprise it will be for them in 

 camp ! The bird hopped about in the tree for a time, 

 sometimes close to the nest and with a piece of twig 

 in its bill, then flew down to the bower flying up again 

 into the tree still with the piece of twig. I must have 

 moved through being anxious to see what the bird 

 was going to do, at all events after giving one call it 

 flew away, the other one following from the bower. 



For three days I spent a good deal of time watching 

 these birds, one would fly down from the tree with a 

 piece of twig in its bill, and after a little manoeuvring 

 the other bird would take the twig, hop about a bit 

 as if looking for a place which wanted filling up, 

 place it in some part of the bower, sometimes 

 apparently not to its entire satisfaction, for it would 

 take it out again and put it somewhere else, then 

 again a good bit of the bower would be pulled to 

 pieces and rearranged, and the stones etc. were 

 always being moved about with many hops and 

 skips and flirting of the tail. I never saw them go 

 straight to the nest, but they were often quite close 

 to it, so I determined to get the nest and see what 

 it contained. I climbed the tree only to find that 

 it was a deserted one from which the birds had 

 flown and with a feather or two of Graucalus 

 melanops, perhaps the builders of the nest. This 

 was a' terrible disappointment, but I solaced myself 

 with the thought that I had seen a good deal of 

 their habits. 



Male. Length, 16 inches; iris, dark brown be- 

 coming lighter round pupil ; bill, dark brownish olive, 

 inside of bill orange brightest at swallow ; legs and 

 feet dark olive brown lighter at the bottom of each 

 scale on the tarsi. 



Female, smaller, length 14-4, description same 

 as male above. 



Walter Burton. 



Collections made in Thibet and Central Asia 

 by Messrs. Bonvalot and Henri d'Orléans. 



» 



On Thursday, the 4th of June, the Collections 

 made by Messrs. Bonvalot and Prince Henri d'Or- 

 léans in Thibet and Central Asia were exhibited to 

 the public in the Zoological Gallery of the Museum 

 of Natural History in Paris, and will probably remain 

 on view for another month at least. 



They are excessively interesting and well worth a 

 visit to Paris for all those who can dispose of several 

 days. 



It *contains some fine series of Mammals and Bird 

 Skins, a fine Herbarium and a large quantity of Ethno- 

 logical specimens, Jewels and Curiosities. A great 

 number of photographs taken by Prince Henri 

 d'Orléans during the course of the voyage give a very 

 good idea of all the countries traversed by the bold 

 and successful Explorers. Among the Mammals 

 can be seen a fine specimen of Yak, killed by Prince 

 Henri d'Orléans, two specimens of horses kiangs, a 

 sort of hemione between a horse and a donkey, many 

 species of bears, antilopes, leopards, lynx, etc. Among 

 the birds a large number of pheasants, partridges, 

 hawks, ducks, crows, etc., some quite new to Science. 

 These have just been described and dedicated to the 

 discoverers. 



In the Herbai ium are also many rare and new 

 species of plants proper to Thibet and China. Many 

 were new for the Museum. 



Close to the Plerbarium are several dresses of the 

 women (North of Yuman) and many other specimens 

 of wearing apparels, vases, reliquaries, bells and all 

 sorts of curiosities. 



