BIRDS. 
325 
We have devoted this article to nests; but there are 
some examples of architectural still among birds, which 
require a passing notice, though they are constructed for 
a very different purpose. We allude to the playing galle- 
ries of the Bower-birds of Australia, specimens of which 
may be seen in the British Museum and in the Zoological 
Gardens at the Regent’s Park. The Spotted Bower-bird 
(Chlamydera metadata), for instance, collects twigs and 
sticks, and builds them so as to form a long tunnel or 
gallery, cylindrical interiorly, where it is lined with long 
grass. The birds then bring together large quantities of 
stones, shells, and fragments of bone, with which the floor 
is paved; this pavement, which expands beyond the open- 
ing at each end, serves to strengthen the structure and 
keep it steady. Besides this, they carefully search for the 
craily- coloured feathers of parrots and other birds, which 
they interweave into the sides of their bower, and also 
arrange the whitest stones and shells in the most conspi- 
cuous'" places, with a keen eye to ornament. The gallery 
bem* complete, the birds use it for play, chasing each 
other through it; and that not only by pairs, but nume- 
rous individuals associating to use (and, therefore, probably 
to build) the same gallery. One of these bowers, now in 
the British Museum, was, when found, four feet long and 
eighteen inches high. 
