ri8 
The Queensland Naturalist. 
Jan., I921 
It lia.s long since been found that the Cat-Bird builds 
its nest (a very cleverly-built structure) in the crests of 
tree-ferns and similar situations, usually at a height of 
about 15 feet ; but 1 know of no record regarding its play- 
ground other than one left by the late Mr. Kendall 
Broadbent (formerly ornithologist at the Queensland 
Museum) as a marginal note to his copy of Gould ^s Hand- 
book. This note runs: “The Cat-Bird was common in the 
Brisbane scrubs in 1868. Used to think it was a child 
crying the first time I heard it. It makes no bower — 
scratches the ground clean and lays down leaves* to dance 
on. — K.B.” This tallies closely with what Broadbent and 
others observed with regard to the Tooth-bill, which really 
has no claim to the name of Bower-Bird. This species 
(which Broadbent regarded as the “master mocking-bird 
of Australia ’U clears about a square yard of ground in the 
heart of the scrub, and lays thereon seven to nine large 
leaves, with which it plays and which it renews each morn- 
ing. In view of this fact, and of the close oological 
relationship between the Tooth-bill and the Cat-Birds, it 
is not likely that Broadbent, a good field worker, made a 
mistake in ascribing the same quaint habits to the queer- 
voiced bird of our mountain scrubs. But how surprising 
it is that the ]>laygrounds have not been found, or the 
habit remai'ked on, by other observers or settlers! Can it 
be that the practice is rare among the Cat-Birds? 
Then there is the semi-mystery surrounding the playing 
habits of the beautiful Regent-Bird (Sericulus melinus). 
This beautiful creature, one of the loveliest of the world 
avi-fauna, is a true Bower -Bird, both in habits and oology; 
but, though still fairly common, the remarkable fact is that 
its bow('r is very seldom discovered. Personally, I have 
found play-houses of the Satin Bower-Bird in almost every 
jungle area visited, but not until recently did I come across 
a bow(‘i- which could with any certainty be ascribed to a 
Regent-Bird. In this case the structure was low, almost 
squat, and not to be compared in elegance to that of the 
Satin-Bird. 
Gould saw nothing of the bower of the Regent-Bird, 
but he had definite information on the point from the late 
.Mr. C. Coxen, who read a valuable paper on the subject at 
a meeting of the old Queensland Philosophical Society on 
the 23rd of May, 1864. Through the offices of Mr. Waller, 
a taxidermist, of Edward street, Mr. Coxen was enabled to 
view a Regent-Bird’s bower in scrub on the banks of the 
Brisbane River. This bower they removed and placed on 
exhibit in the city. Since that time there have been other 
