202 
STRANGE DWELLINGS . 
rest, the tail-feathers cross each other at the curves, and pre- 
sent a very elegant appearance, though not in the least 
resembling a lyre. In general shape the bird bears some re- 
semblance to a small turkey, except that the legs are longer 
and more slender, and that the feet do not resemble those of a 
gallinaceous bird. It is rather remarkable that the egg presents ; 
as curious a mixture of the insessorial and gallinaceous aspects 
as the bird itself. 
The nest of this bird is not at all unlike that of the wren, 
being very much of the same shape, and domed after a similar 
fashion. The nest is, however, a very rough piece of archi- 
tecture, composed almost wholly of twigs, roots, and various j 
sticks, which are interwoven in a very loose, but very ingenious j 
manner, so as to form a structure of tolerable firmness, which ii 
can be lifted and even subjected to rough treatment without 
being broken. At first sight it looks like those heaps of dead 
twigs which are so common in the birch-tree, but a closer in- 
spection shows that there is a certain regularity in the disposi- 
tion of the sticks, and that the bird is not without method, 
though that method be not at first apparent. 
Our last example of the Building Birds will be the well- 
known Bower Bird of Australia ( Ptilonorhynchus holosericeus ). 
Perhaps the whole range of ornithology does not produce a 
more singular phenomenon than the fact of a bird building a 
house merely for amusement, and decorating it with brilliant 
objects as if to mark its destination. Such a proceeding marks 
a great progress in civilisation, even among human races. The 
savage, pure and simple, has no notion of undergoing more 
labour than can be avoided, and thinks that setting his wives to 
build a hut is quite as much labour as he chooses to endure. 
The native Australians have no places of amusement. They 
will certainly dance their corrobory in one part of the forest 
in preference to another, but merely because the spot happens 
to be suitable without the expenditure of manual labour. The 
Bushman has no place of resort, neither has the much farther 
