SERICULUS MELINUS. 



a marked distinction from the Satin bird's. The Regent bird frequents our river-scrubs during the winter months, 

 from the beginning of May to the end of September, coming from the south, whither he repairs during the summer. 

 Its food consists of berries, wild fruits, and insects. In confinement it greedily disposes of house-flies, cockroaches, 

 and small insects, showing great activity in their capture ; but its principal food is the banana, of which it eats 

 largely. It is very bold and pugnacious, the young males particularly so. In confinement several cases have 

 occurred of one having killed the other. The young males closely resemble the females in plumage during their first 

 year ; in the second they partially assume the gay plumage of their sire ; and in their third year they put on the 

 full livery of the adult male.' " 



My friend, M. Jules P. Verreaux, who has had, during his long sojourn in Australia, ample opportunities for 

 observing this and other species of this family inhabiting that country, sends me the following account of the 

 Regent bird : — " The Sericulus melinus resembles in its habits the greater number of the Australian Melephagidse, and 

 is most often met with on those trees whose flowers contain the greatest amount of saccharine matter, attracting 

 numerous small insects, which it searches for with the utmost care. The tongue, being barbed on each 

 side near the tip, is introduced into the flower and extracts the greater number of the insects, which are 

 generally hidden at the bottom of the corolla. It feeds also upon the seeds of different kinds of trees ; I 

 have always observed it upon the wild figs, of the seeds of which it is very fond. This species also seeks for 

 insects among the flowers of the Eucalyptus, and also feeds upon the pulpy seeds of the wild vines, and of the 

 chmbing plants which are so numerous in certain parts of Australia. I have observed that the brood generally 

 consists of from four to five young — that these do not leave their parents until the next breeding-season, when 

 the plumage of the young males commences to change to that of the adult — and that then they go off in a 

 different direction, and are seen no more in the same localities chosen by the adults for their nidification. At 

 this time, full of passion and vivacity, they are often seen assembling together to construct their bowers. This 

 species, like the Ptilonorhynclius violaceus and P. crassirostris, also the two species of Chlamydodera, nuchalis and 

 maculata, construct the bowers so well represented by Gould in the ' Birds of Australia.' These are frequented, 

 generally every day, by these different species of birds, which not only perform there a thousand evolutions, but 

 bring from considerable distances little stones, bones, shells, twigs, and all kinds of feathers to decorate it. At 

 this time also the plaintive cry of pikau-pihau, which they usually utter, appears changed for the notes prit-prit, 

 prio-prio, which are softer, and only made by the male, the female having a guttural note difficult to be heard. 

 The Sericulus, like the other birds with which I associate it, generally forms its nest in the fork of a branch at a 

 height of seven or eight feet ; this it composes chiefly of the fibres of climbing plants, of mosses and lichens, mingling 

 with them at the same time a quantity of leaves and feathers. The nest is firm and cup-shaped, the interior fined with 

 very delicate fibres, and contains generally five eggs, of a clear reddish tint, and spotted with brick-red spots ; near 

 the larger end these spots are so arranged as to make a considerable circle. In their first plumage the coloration 

 of both sexes resembles that of the female ; and it is not until the second year that the males assume their beautiful 

 dress, but only obtain the rich orange tint on the head in their third year." 



Male. — Upper part of head, neck, back, and secondaries golden yellow ; forehead tinged with deep orange ; apical 

 portion of secondaries black, as are also the edges of the inner webs of the three uppermost ones. First and 

 second primaries black, third, fourth, fifth, and sixth black on their outer webs and tips, the black extending 

 downwards on the inner side of the inner web for half the length of the feather ; rest of inner web golden yellow, 

 extending along the shaft to within a short distance of the tip. Rest of plumage and tail deep velvety black. 

 Bill horn-colour, brownish towards the tip of lower mandible. Feet and tarsi black. 



Female. — Forehead light brown, finely spotted with dark brown; back of head black. Cheeks and lower part 

 of neck light brown, spotted with dark brown hke the forehead. A broad bar of black divides this from the 

 back, which has the feathers white in the centres, with black edges. Rest of upper parts dark brown, a white 

 spot near the tips of the feathers, broader and more conspicuous on those near the flanks. Wings olive-brown, 

 dark brown on the inner webs. Chin and upper part of the throat white ; central portion of lower part black. 

 Upper part of breast, flanks, and lower parts dull white, with the edges of the feathers dark brown, palest on the 

 central part of the abdomen. Tail fight brown. Bill, feet, and tarsi black. 



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