THE BALTIMORE BIED. 
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of a greyish-green; the under parts are lighter-coloured, each 
feather having a brown crescent-shaped spot near the end. 
Like the Chlamydera, this bird seems to live exclusively on 
grain, berries, and figs. Its curious bower-like structures 
are generally placed under the shelter of the branches of 
some tree, in a retired part of the forest. In December, 
1851, we saw a young male of this species in the Zoologi- 
cal Gardens ; it flew and hopped about, and seemed to be 
very shy. We observed it take up several straws in its 
beak, keeping them together and taking each up separately; 
the bower-bird broke off a twig from a decayed bush in the 
aviary, and placed it in its bower, which, when we observed 
it, was by no means in a very symmetrical state. The man- 
ners of this bird seemed to us to resemble those of the 
jackdaw; and, like that bird and the magpie, it seems to 
have a love of securing and secreting anything that is bright. 
Many of the birds of the family Stumidce build remark- 
ably beautiful pensile nests. One of the most skilled of 
these is the Baltimore-bird of the United States, where it 
is often called ^ hang-nest^ and ^hanging-bird,^ from its 
well-known structures. The American ornithologist speaks 
in high terms of the warmth, security, and convenience of 
the Baltimore-bird's nest : he says that the bird generally 
