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THE MINO BIRD. 
bowers, wbich had evidently been resorted to for many years, contained nearly half a bnshel 
of bones and shells.” 
The color of this bird is a rich brown covered with buff spots, and upon the back of the 
neck there is a band of lengthened feathers of a beautiful rose-pink, and glistening with a 
satin-like sheen. For more detailed information of these curious birds, as well as for some 
admirable colored engravings of themselves and their bowers, the reader is referred to Gould’s 
“ Birds of Australia.” 
SPOTTED BOWER BIRD .— CMamydodera maculata. 
The account of the Glossy Starlings would be incomplete without a passing mention of 
the Jttida, a bird rather larger than the common starling, with an elongated tail, ana a plum- 
age that is most singularly covered with every imaginable shade of shining copper, purple, 
violet, and blue, intermixed in such a manner as to defy description, and seeming as if the 
hues had been splashed at random upon the feathers, and then rubbed in and polished. There 
are several species of Juida, some inhabiting Australia, and others being found in India and 
Africa. They live in flocks, often attacking the gardens and making great havoc among the 
fruit. They are also in the habit of perching upon the backs of cattle for the sake of catch- 
ing the various insects which are always to be found upon a cow’s back. Their nest is usually 
made in the clefts of rocks. 
THE GRAKLES. 
The Graculinse, or Grakles, form the next group of birds. Formerly a very large number 
of species were ranked among the members of this group, but the naturalists of the present 
day have restricted the appellation to comparatively few birds. In all the species the bill is 
broad at the base, with the ridge of the upper mandible slightly curved, and there is a little 
notch near the extremity 
The Miisto Bibd is very common in many parts of India and the Indian Islands, where it 
is frequently captured and domesticated 
