342 
PERCHING BIRDS. 
these were considerably longer and more avenue-like than those of the satin 
bower-bird, being in many instances 3 feet in length. “ They are outwardly 
built of twigs, and beautifully lined with tall grasses, so disposed that their heads 
nearly meet; the decorations are very profuse, and consist of bivalve shells, crania 
of small mammalia and other bones, bleached by exposure to the rays of the sun 
or from the camp-fires of the natives. Evident indications of high instinct are 
manifest throughout the whole of the bower and decorations formed by this 
and would often escape notice were it not for the harsh grating note with 
which it receives the intrusion of a stranger into its haunts. When disturbed 
it takes to the topmost branches of the loftiest trees, and frequently flies off 
to another neighbourhood. Gould states that he found several of the bowers or 
runs of this bird during his journey into the interior of New South Wales, both 
on the plains studded with small trees and in the brushes clothing the lower hills; 
SPOTTED BOWER-BIRDS AT HOME (| liat. Size). 
