30 AUSTRALIAN ZOOLOGY, 
upper surface greyish green; the wings and tail dark sulphur- 
brown, the inner webs of the primaries being the darkest. The 
uuder surface contains the same tints as the upper, but very much 
lighter, and with a wash of yellow. Each feather of the upper 
surface also has a crescent-shaped mark of dark brown near the ex- 
tremity, giving the whole a scaly appearance. The irides are of a 
deeper blue than in the male, and with only an indication of the red 
ring. The bill is of a dark horn-colour. The feet are yellowish 
white, tinged with olive. In the hilly country to the east of Mel- 
bourne, in a flock of about 100 of these birds, it was noticed that 
there were not more than three or four of black plumage—these were 
the old males. It has been noted that the feathers do not change 
from green to black till the bird is some years old. 
Habits.—The bowers these birds construct are usually placed 
under the shelter of the branches of some overhanging tree in the 
most retired part of the forest. They differ considerably in size, 
some being from two to three feet long, but others very much 
smaller. The base consists of an extensive and rather convex plat- 
form of sticks 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 presented outwards, by which arrangement not 
the slightest obstruction is offered to the passage of the bird. The 
interest 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 Rosehill and Pennantian 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 the 
entrances. The propensity of these birds to pick up and fly off with 
any attractive object, is so well-known to the natives, that they 
always search the runs for any small missing article, such as the 
bow] of a pipe, &c.; that may have been accidentally dropped in the 
bush. Mr, Gould found at the entrance cf one of them a small 
neatly-worked stone tomahawk of an inch and a half in length, 
together with some slips of blue cotton rags, which the birds had 
doubtless picked up at a deserted encampment of the natives. For 
what purpose these curious bowers are made is not yet perbaps fully 
understood. ‘They are certainly not used as a nest, but as a place 
of resort for many individuals of both sexes, which, when there 
assembled, run through and around the bower in a sportive and 
playful manner, and that so frequently that it is seldom entirely 
deserted. It is conjectured that the runs are merely resorted to as 
a rendezyous or playing-ground at the pairing time and during the 
period of incubation. It was evident from the appearance of a por- 
tion of the accumulated mass of sticks, &c., that the same spot had 
been used as a place of resort for many years. Mr. C. Coxen having 
