SERICULUS MELINUS (Q. ft Gray). 



REGENT-BIRD. 



T I iHE Regent-bird, one of the most beautiful of the Australian fauna, is found only on the eastern 

 * coast, and very seldom further south than Sydney. 



The food consists of berries, insects and fruits — especially the banana. 



One very peculiar point about it is, that although before assuming its full plumage it is very 



bold and tame, it afterwards becomes very shy, so that to obtain a specimen of a full-plumaged male is 

 a matter of great dilhVulty. 



The br ling season is in November and December, when it builds a nest of sticks, without any 



lining, in which two e<j£s are laid. 



It lives and becomes fairly tame in confinement. 



Mr. Coxen, of Brisbane, was the first to draw attention to the fact that it builds a bower in 

 which to disport itself, after the manner of the Bower-birds. The bower is formed of small twigs and 

 decorated with a species of helix. It cannot be mistaken for that of any of the Bower-birds, since it 

 differs both in its smaller size and in many points of construction. 



The sexes differ considerably in appearance. 



The male has the head and back of the neck, running in a rounded point towards the breast, 

 bright yellow, tinged with orange ; the remainder of the plumage, with the exception of the secondaries 

 and inner webs of the primaries, velvety-black; secondaries and inner webs of the primaries, yellow; tail, 

 brownish-grey ; irides and bill, yellow ; legs and feet, brownish-black. 



The female has the head and throat dull brownish-white, with a large patch of deep black on 

 the crown ; all the upper surface, wings and tail, pale olive-brown, the feathers of the back with a 

 triangular-shaped mark of brownish-white near the tip ; the under surface is the same, except that the 

 white markings become much larger; irides, brown ; bill and feet, black. 



Habitat : Eastern coast of Australia. 



