The bower-like structures from which the birds take their name first came under the notice of Mr. Gould at Sydney. Mr. Charles Coxen had presented an example to the museum there as the work of the satin bower-bird. With his usual energy, Mr. Gould at once determined to leave no means untried for ascertaining every particular relating to this peculiar feature in the economy of the bird; and on visiting the cedar-brushes of the Liverpool range, he discovered several of these bowers or playingplaces. He found them usually under the shelter of an overhanging tree in the most retired part of the forest, differing considerably in size, some being a third larger than that represented in Mr. Gould's admirable picture (for the illustrations in this, as well as in many of his other works, are not mere figures-they are pictures), whilst others were much smaller. He shall now speak for himself :

The base consists of an extensive and rather convex platform 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 birds. 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 tailfeathers of the Rose-hill and Pennantian parrots, bleached bones, and 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, as the bowl of a pipe, &c. that may have been accidentally dropped in the brush. I myself found at the entrance of 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.

Mr. Gould goes on to observe that the purpose for which these curious bowers are made is not yet, perhaps, fully understood. He is certain that they are 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.

The proceedings of these birds (adds Mr. Gould) have not been sufficiently watched to render it certain whether the runs are frequented throughout the whole year or not; but it is highly probable that they are resorted to as a rendezvous or playing-ground at the pairing-time, and during the period of incubation. It was at this season, as I judged from the state of the plumage and from the internal indications of those I dissected, that I visited these localities; the bowers I found had been recently renewed; it was, however, evident, from the appearance of a portion of the accumulated mass of sticks, &c. that the same spot had been used as a place of resort for many years. Mr. Charles Coxen informed me, that after having destroyed one of these bowers and secreted himself, he had the satisfaction of seeing it partially reconstructed; the birds engaged in this task, he added, were females.*

Such are the bowers constructed by the satin bowerbird, (Ptilonorhynchus holosericeus, Kuhl,) the cowry of the aborigines of the coast of New South Wales. The plumage of the adult male is deep, shining, blue-black, well justifying that part of its name which likens it to satin, except the primary wing-feathers, whose deep black more resembles velvet; and the wing-coverts, secondaries, and tail feathers, which are also of a velvety black, tipped with lustrous blue-black. The eyes are of a light cærulean blue, with a circle of red round the pupil. The bill is of a bluish horn-colour, graduating into yellow at the tip, and the legs and feet are yellowish-white.

The head and all the upper surface of the female are greyish-green, the wings and tail sulphur brown. The

* Birds of Australia. By J. Gould, F.R.S. &c. the Author, 20, Broad Street, Golden Square.

Published by

same tints prevail on the under surface as on the upper, but are much lighter, with a tinge of yellow, and each feather of the under parts has a scale-like appearance, produced by a crescent-shaped dark-brown border at its extremity. The irides are of a deeper blue than those of the male, and there is only an indication of the red ring. The bill is of a dark horn-colour; and the feet are of a yellowish-white hue, tinged with horn-colour.

The young males closely resemble the females, with this difference, that the hue of the under surface is of a more greenish yellow, and the crescent-shaped markings more numerous. The irides are dark blue, the feet olive brown, and the bill blackish olive.

These birds, the male being in its transition-suit, may be seen at the garden of the Zoological Society, where they have a bower, and where I have had the pleasure of watching them. But I must break off for the present, though much more remains to be noticed with regard to this most interesting group, and other temptations crowd upon my pen. The hippopotamus-thanks to his powerful highness the Viceroy of Egypt, who saith to a man 'Go, and he goeth;' and to good, zealous, indefatigable, disinterested Mr. Murray-is delighting multitudes of eager spectators, who crowd to the Regent's Park to see this most healthy, good-humoured, rollicking, pachydermatous baby of five hundred pounds' weight, that has come from a distance of five thousand miles to see and be seen: for he appears to be as pleased with his visitors as they are with him. The thylacines-shapes such as one sees in dreams-as yet so shy and wild that they dash with horror from the sight of a human face, and remain sulkily in their dormitory, are arrived to add to our notions of Australian wonders. The Egyptian snakecharmers are come.

July, 1850.

155

ELE

CHAPTER VIII.

LEGANT and ingenious as are the structures and collections of the satin bower-bird, the species of the allied genus Chlamydera display still greater architectural abilities, and more extensive collective and decorative powers.

*

The spotted bower-bird is an inhabitant of the interior. Its probable range, in Mr. Gould's opinion, is widely extended over the central portions of the Australian continent; but the only parts in which he observed it, or from which he procured specimens, were the districts immediately to the north of the colony of New South Wales. During his journey into the interior he saw it in tolerable abundance at Brezi, on the river Mokai, to the northward of the Liverpool plains; and it was also equally numerous in all the low scrubby ranges in the neighbourhood of the Namoi, as well as in the open brushes that intersect the plains on its borders. Mr. Gould is gifted with the eye of an observer; but, from the extreme shyness of its disposition, the bird generally escapes the attention of ordinary travellers, and it seldom allows itself to be approached near enough for the spectator to discern its colours. Its 'harsh, grating, scolding note,' betrays its haunts to the intruder; but, when disturbed, it seeks the tops of the highest trees, and generally flies off to another locality.

Mr. Gould obtained his specimens most readily by

* Chlamydera maculata (Gould).

watching at the water-holes where they come to drink; and on one occasion, near the termination of a long drought, he was guided by a native to a deep basin in a rock where water, the produce of many antecedent months, still remained. Numbers of the spotted bowerbirds, honeysuckers, and parrots, sought this welcome reservoir, which had seldom, if ever before, reflected a white face. Mr. Gould's presence was regarded with suspicion by the winged frequenters of this attractive spot; but while he remained lying on the ground perfectly motionless, though close to the water, their wants overpowered their misgivings, and they would dash down past him and eagerly take their fill, although an enormous black snake was lying coiled upon a piece of wood near the edge of the pool. At this interesting post Mr. Gould remained for three days. The spotted bower-birds were the most numerous of the thirsty assemblage there congregated, and the most shy, and yet he had the satisfaction of frequently seeing six or eight of them displaying their beautiful necks as they were perched within a few feet of him. He states that the scanty supply of water remaining in the cavity must soon have been exhausted by the thousands of birds that daily resorted to it, if the rains which had so long been suspended had not descended in torrents.

Mr. Gould discovered several of the bowers of this species during his journey to the interior, the finest of which, now in the National Museum, he brought to England. He found the situations of these runs or bowers to be much varied. Sometimes he discovered them on the plains studded with Myalls (Acacia pendula), and sometimes in the brushes with which the lower hills were clothed. He describes them as considerably longer, and more avenue-like, than those of the satin bower-bird, extending in many instances to three feet in length. Outwardly they were built with twigs,