Chap. XIII. 
LOVE-ANTICS. 
69 
ground ; ” he repeats this manceuvre several times 
successively, at the same time humming in a peculiar 
tone. Such females as happen to he near ‘‘obey this 
“ saltatory summons,” and when they approach he 
trails his wdngs and spreads his tail like a turkey- 
cock.^^ 
But the most curious case is afforded by three allied 
genera of Australian birds, the famous Bower-birds, 
' — no doubt the co-descendants of some ancient species 
which first acquired the strange instinct of constructing 
bowers for performing their love-antics. The bowers 
(fig. 46), w^hich, as we shall hereafter see, are highly 
decorated with feathers, shells, bones and leaves, are 
built on the ground for the sole purpose of courtship, 
for their nests are formed in trees. Both sexes assist 
in the erection of the bowers, but the male is the prin- 
cipal workman. So strong is this instinct that it is 
practised under confinement, and Mr. Strange has 
described the habits of some Satin Bower - birds, 
which he kept in his aviary in New South Wales. “At 
“ times the male will chase the female all over the 
aviary, then go to the bower, pick up a gay feather 
“ or a large leaf, utter a curious kind of note, set all 
“ his feathers erect, run round the bower and become 
“ so excited that his eyes appear ready to start from 
“ his head ; he continues opening first one wing, and 
“ then the other, uttering a low, Avhistling note, and, 
For Tetrao phasianellus, see Kichardson, ‘ Fauna Bor. America/ 
p. S61, and for further particulars Capt. Blakiston, ‘Ibis/ 1863, p. 125. 
For the Cathartes and Ardea, Audubon, ‘ Ornith. Biography,’ vol. ii. 
p, 51, and vol. iii. p. 89. On the White-throat, Macgillivray, ‘ Hist. 
British Birds/ vol. ii. p. 354. On the Indian Bustard, Jerdon, ‘ Birds 
of India,’ vol. iii. p. 618. 
^9 Gould, ‘ Handbook to the Birds of Australia/ vol. i. p. 444, 449, 455. 
The bower of the Satin Bower-bird may always be seen in the Zoolo- 
logical Society’s Gardens, Kegent’s Park. 
