2 
THE BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA 
weird movements; like Starlings, they make the same chattering 
noise while on the wing. An exceptionally noisy species, and an excel¬ 
lent mimic. In certain districts it is known as "Whirlwind-bird”. It 
breeds in colonies in trees, chiefly tall white mangrove and Moreton 
Bay ash-trees. Food: native fruits, principally wild nutmegs from 
which the mace only is eaten; also insects, often caught on the wing. 
nest. A large, domed structure, rather oval in shape, with an 
entrance at one side, constructed chiefly of hard twisted tendrils of 
creeping plants; lined with portions of palm leaves, and a quantity 
of hair-like fibre. Suspended from the limb of a tree, usually in or 
close to dense scrub. As many as two hundred nests have been counted 
hanging in a tree. 
eggs. Three or four, pale bluish-white, spotted and speckled, chiefly 
at the larger end, with reddish-brown, dull purple, and dull purplish- 
grey. Breeding-season: August to December. 
8. Regent Bower-bird Sericnlus chrysocephalus Lewin-8A. Female 
Ser-ic'-u-lus— Gk, sericos, silken: chrys-o-ceph'-al-us— Gk, chrysos, golden; 
Gk, cephale, head. 
distribution. South-eastern Queensland and north-eastern New 
South Wales. 
NOTES. Also called Regent-bird. Mostly in pairs or flocks accord¬ 
ing to the season of the year. The flocks usually consist of one fully 
plumaged male to twenty or more females and immature males. 
Generally observed feeding upon the fruits and berries of native trees! 
vines, and shrubs. The call-note is a guttural "Te-ar” long drawn out; 
when alarmed the bird utters a squeaky “Whit-whit”. This species 
builds a bower or playground—a cleared space about 4 feet in 
diameter, in the centre of which it constructs a bed of sticks, well 
trampled down, erects two walls, each about 8 inches long and 6 
inches high, and then decorates the bower with empty land-snail 
shells and a few leaves and berries. Often the bower is built without 
a bed of sticks, the materials of the walls being pushed into the 
damp soil. Food: insects, native fruits, and berries; also cultivated 
fruits. 
nest. A rather deep, saucer-shaped structure, composed of thin drv 
sticks and twigs, lined with thinner twigs. Usually placed in a mass of 
foliage or vines, at heights up to 40 feet from the ground. 
eggs. Usually two, yellowish-stone colour or faint-greyish or dull 
white, beautifully and delicately marked and marbled with lines and 
hair-like irregular markings of olive-brown, blackish-brown, and dull 
purplish-grey; some have the markings predominating around the 
larger end, in others, these are confined to the centre. Breeding-season- 
October to Lhe end of January. 
9. Golden Bower-bird Pvionodura newtoniana De Vis—9A. Female 
Pri'-on-o-dur'-a—Gk, prion, saw; Gk, ura ( oura ), tail: newtoniana- 
Alfred Newton (1829-1907), Professor of Zoology, Cambridge. 
