180 
YERTEBRATA. 
on the center of whicli the bower itself is built ; this, like the platform on which it is placed and 
with which it is interwoven, is formed of sticks and twigs, but of a more slender and flexible de- 
scription, the tips of the twigs being so arranged as to curve inward and nearly meet at the top ; 
in the interior of the bower the materials are so placed that the forks of the twigs arc always pre- 
sented outward, by which arrangement not the slightest obstruction is offered to the passage of 
the birds. 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 for many individuals of both sexes, 
which, when there assembled, run through and around the bower in a sportive and playful man- 
ner, and that so frequently that it is seldom entirely deserted." 
A still more extraordinary structure of the same description is formed by the Spotted Bowee- 
BiRD, Chlamydera maculata, an inhabitant of the interior of Australia ; it is thus described by 
Mr. Gould. The bowers "are considerably longer and more avcnue-like than those of the satin 
bower-bird, being 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 bones. Evident 
and beautiful instances of design are manifest throughout the bower and decorations formed by 
this species, particularly in the manner in which the stones are placed within the bower, appar- 
ently 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 little paths, while the immense collection 
of decorative materials, bones, shells, (fee, are placed in a heap before the entrance of the avenue, 
this arrangement being the same at both ends." Mr. Gould adds, in evidence of the labor that 
must be bestowed by the birds upon the construction of these apparently useless assembly rooms, 
that he frequently found them at a distance from any river, so that the shells and small stones 
employed in their fabrication must have been transported from a considerable distance. It ap- 
pears also that the birds collect no other bones than those which have been bleached in the sun ; 
and as it is certain that as they feed almost entirely upon fruits and seeds, these remains of other 
animals cannot be regarded as. relics of their victims. 
THE MINO-EIRD. 
THE GRACKLES.* 
The birds of this group are found in India and the Indian Isles, where they inhabit the jungles. 
(rmws GRACULA : Oracula. — To this belongs the Mino-Btrd, G. religiosa—Eulabes Java- 
nus of Yiellot; Mainatus Sumatranus of Lesson, and Minor GracMe of Bechstein ; this is twelve 
inches long ; the color is a deep velvety-black ; a white space in the middle of the wing ; bill and 
feet yellow ; behind the eye spring fleshy caruncles of a bright orange-color, and extend beyond 
* The genus G-rcLckle, as no\y restricted by most naturalists, includes only the present group, 
this name included many others. 
CuTier's genus of 
