More wonderful still are the structures reared by the Gardener-bird of New Guinea, presenting, as Professor Newton remarks, "not only a modification of bower-building, but an appreciation of beauty perhaps unparalleled in the animal world.... This species ... builds at the foot of a small tree a kind of hut or cabin ... some 2 feet in height, roofed with orchid-stems that slope to the ground, regularly radiating from the central support, which is covered with a conical mass of moss, and sheltering a gallery around it. One side of this hut is left open, and in front of it is arranged a bed of verdant moss, bedecked with blossoms and berries of the brightest colours. As these ornaments wither they are removed to a heap behind the hut, and replaced by others that are fresh. The hut is circular and some 3 feet in diameter, and the mossy lawn in front of it nearly twice that expanse. Each hut and garden are, it is believed, though not known, the work of a single pair of birds, or perhaps of the male only; and it may be observed that this species, as its trivial name implies, is wholly inornate in plumage. Not less remarkable is the more recently described 'bower' of the Golden Bower-bird.... This structure is said ... to be piled up almost horizontally around the base of a tree to the height of from 4 to 6 feet, and around it are a number of hut-like fabrics, having the look of a dwarfed native camp." Allied species, though building no bowers, yet clear a space of ground some 8 or 9 feet in diameter, on which to display themselves, and ornament this with little heaps of gaily tinted leaves, replacing them as they fade with fresh specimens.
Photo by W. Saville-Kent, F.Z.S.] [Milford-on-Sea.
QUEENSLAND RIFLE-BIRD.
This unique Australian representative of the Birds of Paradise is about the size of a pigeon. Its plumage is black with a purple sheen; the throat is brilliant metallic emerald-green, like that of a humming-bird.
We pass next to the birds of the Starling Family, of which the British Starling is the type. A bird so familiar needs no description here; but we may draw attention to the many interesting phases of plumage this species undergoes.
The first plumage is a uniform greyish brown. Later black feathers, with large white spots at the tips, make their appearance among the brown. These spotted feathers eventually replace the brown, and the bird enters upon a second quite distinct phase—a black, spotted with white. Gradually this gives place to a plumage entirely unspotted, the feathers on the breast being spear-shaped. In the adult dress a wondrous variety of metallic reflections is acquired—green, purple, and violet.
Photo by W. Saville-Kent, F.Z.S.] [Milford-on-Sea.
RED BIRD OF PARADISE.