110 AUSTRALIAN ZOOLOGY. 
the flanks are marked with faint, transverse, zigzag lines of light 
brown. The bill and feet are dusky brown. 
Habits. —These are most extraordinary. Mr. Sharpe, observes, 
of all the acts performed by birds, that of building themselves 
beautiful bowers, variously decorated with shelis, bleached bones, 
glittering stones, and gaudily coloured feathers, must ever be ranked 
amongst the most interesting traits in connection with ornithology. 
Australasia is the only division of the globe where these playing- 
places or halls of assembly are constructed. Sir G. Grey, when 
exploring the Glenelg River in north-west Australia, met with the 
bowers of a bird which Mr. Gould named Chlamydera nuchalis, but 
the explorer had no idea that they had been constructed by a bird, 
he being under the impression that these curious structures were 
nests of the kangaroo-rat. He found near them a number of shells 
and water-worn stones of some fruit—these had evidently been 
carried from the sea-shore. Mr. Gould discovered several bowers 
during his journey inland, the finest of which he took to England ; 
itis now in the British Museum. In some of the larger bowers 
which had been resorted to for many years, half a bushel of bones, 
shells, &c., was found at each of the entrances. The shells and 
bones are collected for ornament. It is only those that have been. 
bleached perfectly white in the sun, or such as have been roasted 
by the natives, and thus whitened, that attract their attention. 
Several birds frequent the same bower. The one exhibited in the 
Zoological Gardens, Melbourne, was found in the neighbourhood of’ 
Lake Albacutya, in the Wimmera country, and it is shown exactly 
as it appeared in the mallee. The spotted bower-bird has a harsh, 
grating, scolding note, which is generally uttered when its haunts 
are intruded on, by which means its presence is detected when 
it would otherwise escape observation ; when disturbed it takes to 
the topmost branches of the loftiest trees and frequently flies off to 
another locality. Mr. Diggles (Queensland) writes :—‘‘ The structure 
is an archway of fine grass, with the heads nearly adjoining ; this 
constitutes the lining, and is outwardly strengthened with twigs, 
the whole being kept securely in their places with small stones or 
pebbles, so disposed as to form a paving to the interior and some 
distance around, small paths leading to the bower being left bare. 
The front and back of the bower are similarly arranged. A heap of 
various materials is piled together opposite each entrance, consist- 
ing of shells, sinall pebbles, bones of small animals, bits of broken 
crockery, &c. The bower is repaired from year to year and is 
resorted to asa playground by numerous individuals, who delight 
in disporting themselves, engaging in various curious and frantic 
evolutions and in chasing one another through the avenue.” —cyerou 
Nidification.—The nest is an open structure placed in a low 
tree; it is saucer or bowl-shaped, composed of sticks and lined with 
grass; the inside dimensions are:—diameter, about 5 in. ; depth, 
3 in. ; outward height, 4in. A nest was found by Mr. Coxen at 
Jourdaryan ; it was cup-shaped, constructed of dried sticks, and lined 
with fine grass and feathers, It contained only young birds, so to 
