SATIN BOWER-BIKD.. 
Capt. S. A. Wliite says : “ A common bird over parts of Victoria, N.S.W. 
and Southern Queensland. The greatest number the writer has ever seen 
in one place was at the Bunya Mountain during the R.A.O.U. Camp, but the 
season was an exceptionally dry one over the suiToimding coimtry, and many 
hundreds of these birds had congregated upon the waters in the moimtains. 
They came out of the great scrubs on every side, moniitig and evening, to feed 
on the green grass growing arotmd the springs in the open patches ; there 
were hundreds comprising both sexes hopping about in search of food. A 
bower was built quite close to oxrr camp and, although we were quite a number, 
and our camp a large one, the two birds continued to visit their playground. 
At Tamborim Mountain I met vdth tlnee birds many years ago ; they were 
very tame and nested in the tall trees right over the camp. Insects, fruits, 
green vegetation, all form this bird’s living. 
Ramsay (the son) has recently wnitten from the Upper Clarence River 
District: “ Satin Birds were common at both camps, feeding in company 
with Cat-Birds, Pigeons, etc., on lilly-pillies, fig and other berries. Of five 
bowers examined, not one contained anything beyond twigs and a few fresh 
leaves ; not even a single shell was observed. Possibly they were new bowers, 
the others having been destroyed by fire.” 
H. V. Edwards has written upon the Colour Sense in Satin Bower-Birds, 
wherein a bower was ornamented with “ scraps of blue glass, paper and rag, 
purple-blue blossoms from the common flag or iris, and the wild plant known 
as the ‘ deadly nightshade ’ (Solanum semiarmatum), over a dozen blue-bags ; 
filched from neighbouring laundries, and blue tail-feathers from the Crimson 
Parrot. ... I hvmg some scraps of scarlet serge on twigs near the bower, 
but although these were pulled down, they were not added to the decorations. 
Red and yellow flowers and feathers, too, were just as easily available, but 
the birds passed them by, faithful to their chosen colour.” 
Recently Nubling has contributed a long and complete account of this 
bird and he has noted: “ The birds of both bowers show a decided preference 
for blue and yeUowish-green as regards their decorations, the only exceptions 
being perhaps the brownish snail shells, yellowish-brown Cicada larval shells, 
and the more olive-green puffballs. . . . Leaving some pieces of blue 
paper m the vicinity of the bower ... I noticed seven pieces of blue 
paper which the bird must have put there whilst I was scraping my billy.” 
The complete account must be referred to, as it does not readily bear 
condensation or quotation. 
This beautiful bird w'as collected simultaneously by the French voyageurs 
and by the Enghsh explorers, but was not described for almost twenty years 
afterward. Then Vieillot described a specimen in Paris and Kuhl named the - 
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