264 Birds. 
small wild fig with which the branches are loaded, an 
abundant supply of a favourite food : this species also 
commits considerable depredation on ripening corn. It 
appears to have particular times in the day for feeding, 
and when thus engaged amoug the low shrub-like trees, 
I have approached within a few feet without creating 
alarm ; but at other times I have found this bird ex- 
tremely shy, especially the old males, which not unfre- 
quently perch on the topmost branch of the loftiest tree, 
whence they can survey all around, and watch the move- 
ments of the females and their young in the brush below. 
Besides the loud liquid call peculiar to the male, both sexes 
frequently utter a harsh, unpleasant, guttural note, indica- 
tive of surprise or displeasure. The old black males are 
exceedingly few in number, as compared with the females 
and young male birds in the green dress, from which, and 
other circumstances, I am led to believe that at least two, 
if not three years, elapse before they attain the rich satin- 
like plumage, which, when once perfectly assumed, is, 
I believe, never again thrown off. The extraordinary 
bower-like structures alluded to above, are usually placed 
under the shelter of the branches of some overhanging 
tree in the most retired part of the forest, and differ 
considerably in size. The base consists of an extensive 
and rather convex platform of stick, firmly interwoven, 
on the centre of which the bower itself is built : this, 
like the platform on which it is placed, and with which 
it is interwoven, is formed of sticks and twigs, but of a 
more slender and flexible description, the tips of the 
twigs being so arranged as to curve inwards and nearly 
meet at the top : in the interior of the bower the materials 
are so placed, that the forks of the twigs are always pre- 
sented outwards, by which arrangement not the slightest 
obstruction is offered j,o the passage of the birds. The in- 
terest of this curious bower is much enhanced by the 
manner in which it is decorated at and near the entrance 
with the most gaily-coloured articles that can be collected, 
such as the blue tail-feathers of the Kose-bill and Pen- 
nantian parrots, bleached bones, the shells of snails, &c. ; 
some of the feathers are stuck in among the twigs, while 
others with the bones and shells are strewed about near 
