THE BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA. 
arched over than those of the Satin-Bird. These birds are great fruit 
robbers.’* 
BaiTett has noted: “ It is asserted that Bower-Birds are doing much 
damage in the orchards on some of the Murray blocks, and I was informed 
that many had been shot. The birds were reported to be plentiful at Piangil, 
and a settler complained that they had carried off a quantity of fencing 
staples which had been left along a line of newly sunk posts. I fear that, 
in the course of a few years, mdess measures are taken for their better 
protection, the Spotted Bower-Bird wiU share the fate of the Mallee Fowls 
{Leipoa ocellat-a) in the Mallee country of Victoria.” 
Jackson also recorded: “At CoUarenebri (North New South Wales) was 
surprised to see the numbers of Bower-Birds which were then frequentmg a 
Chinese fruit and vegetable garden* close to the town, eatmg grapes, 
peaches and other fruits. I counted thirty-five of the birds one morning. 
The proprietor of the garden informed me that the Bower-Birds were 
‘ no good ’ and spoilt liis fruit, and that he had shot as many as thirty 
one morning from a fig-tree. From this it would appear that these birds 
congregate here from the immediate district when the fruit is ripe.” 
Mr. Tom Carter first met vdth this bird in Western Australia on February 
5th, 1892 (not 1902, as given in the Emu,Yol III., p. 37, 1903), under the circum¬ 
stances there recorded and shot the specimen at Tantabiddy, 10 miles S.W. of 
N.W. Cape. He has vTitten me : “I believe this was only the second time 
this species was recorded for West Australia, the first being that obtained by 
IVIi. T. F. Gregory m early exploration (1837) on the Glenelg and Prince Regent 
River district (Kimberly, W.A.) and mentioned in Gould’s ‘Handbook,’ p. 452, 
as the tyq)e. Whether the birds seen by me were Ghlam. guttata, or the subspecies 
subgutlata found breeding by IVIr. Whitlock m 1909 on the East Murchison, 
and where IVIr. J. T. Tumiey had previously obtained a specimen, can unfor¬ 
tunately never be ascertained. Lake Way is 550 miles S.E. from Pomt Cloates 
and the Prince Regent’s River 900 miles N.E.” I have introduced this as others 
may fall into the same error as Carter. 
Gregory’s bird was not procured imtil about 1861, being described at once 
in 1862, and it was suggested by Gould that it was the one which constructed 
the bowsers described by Captain Gray in his “ Travels,” found near the Glenelg 
and Pruice Regent’s Rivers. The exact locality Avhere Gregory’s bird was 
collected is not known at present. 
Whitlock published a fine account of the Lake Way bird {Emu, Vol. IX., 
pp. 212-219, 1901) which must be read m its entirety. I quote: “I soon 
got to recognise them by their flight, which is direct, very undulatory, and never 
at any height above the scrub. When they seek cover they appear to pitch 
330 
