QUEENSLAND 
PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY 
(From the Queensland Quardia n t April 12, 1865.) 
At a meeting of the Queensland Philosophical 
Society held on Monday April 10th, the follow- 
ing paper was read by Mr. Eawnsley : — 
The highly interesting paper on the Regent 
Bird (Sericulus Ch.rys 0 ceph.alu 3 ), by our Vice- 
president, Charles Coxen, Esq., M.P., recently 
read before this society, in which, for the first 
time, the scientific world are made acquainted 
with the bower-building habits of the bird, has 
led me to bring before the meeting this evening 
a brief paper on another of the family — the 
Satin Bird (Ptilonorhynchus Holosericeus.) 
The great ornithologist, Gould, was the first 
to give a scientific description of it, and that so 
ably, as to leave little for others to add. There 
are some points in its economy on which we are 
still in the dark, and to wards, the clearing up of 
which I can give a little information. I allude 
to the breeding and formation of the bower. 
Although the bowers of the Satin Bird vary 
in size, to some extent, I think no doubt will 
remain on the minds of those who have the 
opportunity of comparing the bower exhibited 
by Mr. Coxen as that of the Regent Bird with 
that now before you, of their belonging to 
birds of different species. The Tact_ of the 
Regent Bird being known from the earliest days 
of these colonies without the discovery being 
made that it had the same extraordinary habit 
as the Satin Bird, in no wise casts a doubt on 
the matter ; for to the regret of ornithologists, 
the nest of the Satin and Regent Birds are still 
unknown, though able and ardent naturalists 
have searched for them in all localities. Once 
I felt that I was in the close vicinity of that 
of the Satin Bird. In one of the deep glens of 
that romantic mountainous district, the Illa- 
warra, under the overhanging boughs of a 
beautiful streamlet, I found the bower of a 
Satin Bird. It was so placed that the bird fly- 
ing down the stream could enter the bower, 
which was almost at the edge of the bank, and 
a small opening in the dense foliage, gave a 
passage to it from the forest. At its mouth 
was a large quantity of the tail feathers of the 
“Lowry” ( Platycercus Pennanti). A great 
Eucalyptus was within a few feet of it, and in that 
tree were several females and young birds. One of 
these had a grass straw in its mouth ; was this 
bird building in the gum-tree P None of the 
natives to whom I have spoken, and offered 
every inducement which I thought might tempt; 
them to bring me the nest, have been able 
give me any information on the subject. 
