A SINGULAR BIRD.

Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume XXI, Issue 7066, 19 January 1885, Page 4

A SINGULAR BIRD.

The spotted bower-bird of Central Australia is remarkable on acoount of the curious structure or bower it builds. This bower is not a nest, and has nothing to do with the rearing of the young ; for the nest is made in holes of trees, in crevices atnong rocks, and similar secluded places, where the bird lays five or six eggs, and cares for its brood in the ordinary manner. The bower is something entirely different both in struoture and design ; for it seems to serve only as a public resort for the full-grown birds of both sexes, and its only apparent object is a place to play and frolic in. Numbers of these birds are about the spot during the greater part of the day, so that it is seldom deserted ; and all their actions and notes indicate that they have come for no other purpose than to have a sportive time. The construction of the bower is in itself extremely curious, and mußt require an amount of hard and patient labor such as instinct alone, which knows no cessation, obstacle, or fatigue, can achieve. It requires also the joint efforts of many workers ; but what pains will not feathered people, as well as others, take to build and decorate a place for amusement ? Living in the tropical forests, the bower-birds select the shelter of some large, spreading tree, beneath which the surface of the ground has some natural fitness for the foundation of their structure. An extensive platform of sticks firmly interwoven is raised upon it, and thrown up into a rounded or convex form. In the centre of this the bower itself is built. Its materials are also of sticks and twigs, but more slender and flexible than those of which the platform is composed. The ends are so arranged as to curve inward, and almost meet at the top. They are also placed so that the forked or irregular portions shall always be outward, that they may leave the interior free from any obstruction. The inner lining of the bower is made of long grasses, so disposed that they almost touch each other upon the upper side, which is not designed to be wholly roofed, but affords apertares and loopnoles, where the birds can be observed by their companions as they flit through and through the tunnel, which is often three feet in length, and finished with great care and neatness. Small stones are laid upon the grasses along the inside, apparently to keep them in place and to I increase the solidity of the thoroughfare desiined for such constant use. They extend beyond the entrances of the bower, and diverge on the outside into little paths which all lead to the tunnel. The bower is now ready for its decorations, which consist of an immense quantity of small shells, bones, bits of glass, or brilliant crystal and white pebbles, piled in heaps at each entrance of the run (for they are just alike), and laid so that their most brilliant or whitest side shall be uppermost and show to the best advantage. The bones, especially the skulls of little birds, bleached to a snowy whiteness, seem a favorite ornament. And yet the bower-birds feed most upon seeds and fruit, so that these are not the remains of their prey, but picked up and brought, perhaps from a distance, like the shells and pebbles; for these extraordinary structures are often a long way from brooks, where shells and pebbles might be found. How these birds manage to transport them is certainly a mystery, which may some time be solved by better opportunities of observation. But it is perfectly evident that these white and glistening objects are intended solely for the ornament of a spot devoted exclusively to pleasure. And within the winged revellers repair during the long, bright tropical day, to enjoy themselves and feast their eyes on the profusion of bright things they have heaped together — works of nature, if not of art, which they seem especially to admire. Here they run and flutter, and flit through the bower, and around it and above it, displaying their glossy plumage, chasing each other in and our, performing jumps and antics which certainly can indicate nothing but sport and merriment. When one company has had its fun, it retires and is succeeded by others, so that the bower is seldom without its bevy of frolicsome visitors.