SPOTTED BOWER-BIRD. 
the lilac feathers surrounding the brilliant pink of the nape actually shaded 
into a clear, distinct blue. . . . The playground was smaller and less 
substantial than usual. The materials used in construction were, however, 
the same as those employed in the west, and the inner lining was the 
steins of Triodia seed-sprays. ... At one end of the platform flat 
pieces of white or grey limestone, at the other end bones of rabbits, rock 
wallabies and Euros. . . . ofteir five birds were m the sheltering bush. . . . 
The performance was of the usual character, an excited bird with puffed- 
out feathers at either end of the inverted arch, apparently disputing over 
the seed-vessels and other objects lying between. Most perfect imitations of 
the notes and calls of other birds were uttered at the same time. 
“The food of these Central Austrahan Bovver-Birds appears to be a 
mixture of vegetable and bisect life. The stomachs of one or two dissected 
showed plentiful remains of small beetles, seeds and the fruit of the wild 
fig, intermingled with grit.” 
Mr. Thos. P. Austin has written me : “ While on a visit to Multagoona 
Station, about eighty miles north from Bourke, during November 1910, I 
examined many playing-grounds of these extraordinary birds. One was quite 
close to the homestead, but the birds were extraordinarily shy, seldom seen 
anywhere unless I waited hidden near a playgroimd, most of winch were con¬ 
structed beneath low bushes, such as lignum and native lemons. Wishing 
to catch a few of these birds to take home, I made a few twisted horse-hair 
snares, which I fastened on to a piece of string just long enough to reach through 
their playground, pegging it down tight at each end, then went away collecting 
for about an hour ; when I returned most of the horse-hair snares were bitten 
into small pieces, so obtabung more hair from my horse’s tail, I made a few 
more snares and fixed them into position as before, than built a lean-to of 
green branches a short distance away to hide in. I had not been long waiting 
when there was a great row m the jilayground. Just for a few moments I 
could not thbik what it could be, as I had not seen the Bower-Bird arrive. I 
ran up to find a fine bb’d Ijing on its back, caught by both legs, and doing its 
best to get free by biting the horse-hair with its strong bill, at the same time 
making a most awful noise. Almost immediately I heard another most extra- 
ordhiary noise above; looking up, I saw about half a dozen other Bower-Birds 
on the top of a few dead trees ; then suddenly they all started imitating various 
cat calls. I just simply sat down and held the captured bird ere releasing 
it, to watch these birds, but in less than a minute they disappeared just as 
suddenly as they arrived. I had this same performance four times within 
an hour. It struck me as strange w'here they could have heard cats, because 
I was miles from the homestead, where, moreover, there were no cats during 
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