Austral English / A dictionary of Australasian words, phrases and usages with those aboriginal-Australian and Maori words which have become incorporated in the language, and the commoner scientific words that have had their origin in Australasia - Edward Ellis Morris

"The same person had the last season found, to his surprise, the playhouse, or bower, of the Australian satin bower-bird."

1888. D. Macdonald, `Gum Boughs,' p. 28:

"Any shred of glass or metal which arrests the eye or reflects the rays of the sun is a gem in the bower-bird's collection, which seems in a sense to parody the art decorations of a modern home."

1891. `Guide to Zoological Gardens, Melbourne':

"In one is a representation of the playing place of the spotted bowerbird. These bowers are quite independent of the birds' nests, which are built on neighbouring trees. They first construct a covered passage or bower about three feet long, and near it they place every white or bright object they can find, such as the bleached bones of animals, pieces of white or coloured stone, feathers, shells, etc., etc.; the feathers they place on end. When these curious playing places were first discovered, they were thought to be made by the native women for the amusement of their children. More than a bushel of small pieces of bleached bones or shells are often found at one of these curious sporting places. Sometimes a dozen or more birds will assemble, and they delight in chasing each other through the bower and playing about it."

<hw>Box</hw>, <hw>Box-tree</hw>, <hw>Box-gum</hw>, n. The name is applied to many Eucalypts, and to a few trees of the genus Tristania, as given below, all of the N.O. Myrtaceae, chiefly from the qualities of their timber, which more or less resembles "Boxwood." Most of these trees also bear other vernacular names, and the same tree is further often described vernacularly as different kinds of Box. China-, Heath-, and Native-Box (q.v. below) are of other Natural Orders and receive their names of Box from other reasons. The following table is compiled from Maiden:—

Bastard Box—
Eucalyptus goniocalyx, F. v. M.;
E. largiflorens, F. v. M. (called also Cooburn);
E. longifolia, Link.; E. microtheca, F. v. M.;
E. polyanthema, F. v. M.; E. populifolia,
Hook. (called also Bembil or Bimbil Box and Red Box);
Tristania conferta, R. Br.;
T. laurana, R. Br., all of the N.O. Myrtaceae.

Black Box—
Eucalyptus obliqua, L'Herit.;
E. largiflorens, F. v. M.;
E. microtheca, F. v. M.

Brisbane Box—-
Tristania conferta, R. Br.

Broad-leaved Box—
Eucalyptus acmenoides, Schau.