THE SATIN BOWER-BIRD. 
Ptilonorhynchus liolosericeus. 
Plate XXVIII. 
The Bower-Birds of Australia, which are genei’ally kept in the large Aviary to the right hand of the principal 
entrance of the Regent’s Park Gardens, are usually considered amongst the most attractive objects to visitors 
in the whole establishment; the habits of the present species, which is the only one of the group yet received 
alive in England, as well as those of the allied genera, JElurcedus and Chlamydodera, being extremely singular 
and interesting. 
Long before the construction of their nest, and independently of it, these birds form with twigs skilfully 
put together and firmly planted in a platform of various materials, an arbour-like gallery of uncertain length, 
in which they amuse themselves with the most active glee. They pursue each other through it; they make 
attitudes to e :ch other, the males setting their feathers in the most grotesque manner, and making as many 
bows as a cavalier in a minuet. The architecture of the bower is excessively tasteful, and the ornamentation 
of the platform on which it stands is an object of constant solicitude to the birds. Scarcely a day passes 
without some fresh arrangement of the shells, feathers, bones, and other decorative materials, which they 
bring from long distances in the bush for this purpose. With the same object they immediately appropriate 
every suitable fragment placed within their reach when in confinement. 
The first account of the architecture of the Bower-Bird was published by Mr. Gould in 1841, and the 
subject is fully treated of, with characteristic illustrations, in his great work on the Ornithology of Australia, 
Six species of Bower-Birds are now known to occur in different parts of the Australian continent. The 
bushes of New South Wales are tenanted by the present species and the nearly-allied Cat-Bird (JElurcedus 
smithii). The four species of Chlamydodera have a wider distribution, C. maculata being alone found in the 
interior of New South Wales, while C. guttata is confined to Western Australia, and the genus is represented 
in the northern districts by C. nuchalis, and the recently discovered C. cerviniventris. The Spotted Bower-Bird 
(C. maculata) builds a very large bower, in some instances nearly three feet in length, and ornaments the 
entrances to it with smooth stones, bones, and shells, in enormous quantities. 
