THE ANIMAL SENSE OF BEAUTY 107 
the ingenuity of any animal has been known to 
construct/’ writes the discoverer. “ It was a temple in 
miniature, in the midst of a meadow studded with 
flowers.” The bird, which is not much larger than a 
thrush, chooses a level place round some shrub which 
has a straight stem about the thickness of a walking- 
stick. To this central pilaster it fastens the stems of a 
kind of orchid, and draws them outwards to the ground, 
like the cords of a bell-tent ; but the leaves are left on 
the stems, and remain fresh for some time. The upper 
part is then fitted together, and the leaves and moss 
make a beautiful umbrella-shaped roof. In front of 
the central building, the birds clear a space about a 
yard in diameter, which they cover with moss, after 
removing all stones and weeds. On this moss carpet 
they arrange flowers and brilliant fruits in great variety, 
and of the brightest colours to be found. Showy 
fungi and elegantly coloured insects are distributed 
about the garden, and inside the tent, and when these 
lose their freshness, they are thrown away and replaced 
by others. The tent itself is about thirty-nine inches 
in diameter and eighteen inches high. The Papuans 
never disturb these bowers. They call the builder the 
“ Master Bird,” or “Tukan Robin,” the “ Gardener,” 
and say that it is wiser than mankind — and judged by 
the Papuan standard, this estimate is a true one. In 
the gallery of one of the bower-birds half a peck of 
decorations was found. Among these were a large 
white shell, four hundred shells of a bright-coloured 
snail, flints and agates, red seed-pods and seeds, and 
