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THE TROPICAL WORLD. 



the Bower-birds, which are built not for the useful purpose of containing the young, 

 but purely as a playing place or an assembly room? " The structures of the spotted 

 bower-bird," says Mr. Gould, '* are in many instances three feet in length. They are 

 outwardly built of twigs, and beautifully lined with tall grasses, so disposed that their 

 heads nearly meet ; the decorations are very profuse, and consist of bivalve shells, 

 crania of small mammalia, and other birds. Evident and beautiful indications of de- 

 sign are manifest throughout the whole of the bower and decorations formed by this 

 species, particularly in the manner in which the stones are placed within the bower, 

 apparently to keep the grasses with which it is lined fixed firmly in their places. 

 These stones diverge from the mouth of the run on each side, so as to form a little 

 path, while the immense collection of decorative materials, bones, shells, &c., are 

 placed in a heap before the entrance of the avenue, this arrangement being the same 

 at both ends. I frequently found these structures at a considerable distance from the 

 rivers, from the borders of which they alone could have procured the shells and small 

 round pebbly stones ; their collection and transportation must, therefore, be a task of 

 great labor and difficulty. As these birds feed almost entirely upon seeds and fruits, 

 the shells and bones can not have been collected for any other purpose than ornament ; 

 besides, it is only those that have been bleached perfectly white in the sun, or such as 

 have been roasted by the natives, and by this means whitened, that attract their atten- 

 tion." For what purpose these curious bowers are made is not yet, perhaps, fully 

 understood ; they are certainly not used as a nest, but as a place of resort, where the 

 assembled birds run through and about the bower in a playful manner, and that so 

 frequently that it is seldom entirely deserted. The proceedings of these birds have 

 not been sujBficiently watched to render it certain whether the runs are frequented 

 throughout the whole year or not, but it is highly probable that they are merely re- 

 sorted to as a rendezvous or playing ground at the pairing time, and during the period 

 of incubation. 



The Talegalla or Brush-turkey is no less interesting. In appearance it is very like 

 the common black; turkey, but is not quite so large : the extraordinary manner in which 

 its eggs are hatched constitutes its singularity. It collects together a great heap of de- 

 caying vegetables as the place of deposit of its eggs, thus making a hot-bed, arising 

 from the decomposition of the collected matter, by the heat of which the young are 

 hatched. This mound varies in quantity from two to four cart loads, and is of a per- 

 fectly pyramidical form : it is not, however, the work of a single pair of birds, but is 

 the result of the united labor of many, and the same site appears to be resorted to for 

 several years in succession. "The mode," says Mr. Gould, "in which the materials 

 composing these mounds are accumulated is equally singular, the bird never using its 

 bill, but always grasping a quantity in its foot, throwing it backwards to one common 

 center, and thus clearing the surface of the ground to a considerable distance so com- 

 pletely that scarcely a leaf or blade of grass is left." The heap being accumulated 

 and time allowed for a sufficient heat to be engendered, the eggs, each measuring not 

 less than four inches in length — an enormous size, considering the bulk of the bird — 

 are deposited, not side by side, as is ordinarily the case, but planted at the distance of 

 nine or twelve inches from each other, and buried at nearly an arm's depth perfectly 

 upright, with the large end upwards ; they are covered up as they are laid, and 

 allowed to remain until hatched. After six weeks of burial, the eggs, in succession 



