THE AUSTRALIAN NATURALIST. 35 
great is the freedom of the birds, that even the most sen- 
sitive objector to the caging of wild birds could find lit- 
tle to hurt his feelings here. 
Space forbids that I should dwell more upon this sub- 
ject, but I would like to refer to two observations made 
by Mr. Heumann—one relating to the Olive-backed Oriole, 
and the other to the Satin Bower-Bird. It was noted that 
when the Oriole was suffering from the fright of capture 
(whether by lime or net), the very pronounced red colour 
of the eyes was immediately lost, leaving a pallid white, 
which, of course, quite altered the appearance of the bird. 
Recently he caught a pair which he had and sent them to the 
Sydney Zoo. Upon capture the red colour disappeared, as 
when they were first captured; but this was immediately 
restored when they were put into the large enclosure at 
the Zoo. The Satin Bower Birds are said to have a de- 
cided penchant for the colour of blue, both in the aviary 
and in a wild state, decorating their bowers or playgrounds 
with any fragments of blue cloth, paper, or china, etc., or 
flowers, if available. Mr. Heumann says he has invariably 
found the bowers in a state of Nature, decorated specially 
with one small blue flower. The irides of this bird are of 
a blue colour, and it is suggested that perhaps this pre- 
ference, if such really exists throughout the species, is due 
to the fact that their mates’ eyes are blue. 
In this connection it is worthy of note that a Bower, 
described by Leach in p. 185 of his ‘‘Australian Bird 
Book,’’ was decorated with blue flowers from the school 
garden, pieces of blue paper, blue hair-ribbon, besides blue 
parrot’s feathers. Campbell, in his ‘‘Nests and Hggs of 
Australian Birds,’”’ p. 193 (footnote), says: ‘‘Mr. I. W. 
De Lany informs me that he has only noticed blue feathers 
at bowers. His wife, by way of experiment, put out seve- 
ral pieces of coloured wools near the house, and only the 
blue ones were taken to the bower.”’ ~N 
A quotation which the same author makes from the 
MS. of Herman Law, in regard to the occurrence of the 
bird in Southern Queensland, seems to indicate that the 
habit is not quite universal, because bowers are there men- 
tioned as being decorated with ‘‘Yellow and blue Lory 
Parrots’ feathers,’’ etc. 
This Bower-Bird’s liking for blue is evidently well 
established, however, and is worthy of attention. 
—G. D. SrEap. 
