corated, at and near the entrance, with the most gaily-coloured articles that can be collected, such as the blue tail-feathers of the Rose-hill and Pennantian parrots, bleached bones, the shells of snails, &c. some of the feathers are stuck in amongst 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. Mr. Gould found, at the entrance of one of them, a small neatly-worked stone tomahawk, together with slips of blue cotton rags, which the birds had doubtless picked up at a deserted encampment of the natives.

For what purpose these curious bowers are made is not yet, perhaps, fully ascertained. They are certainly 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 have not been sufficiently watched, to render it certain whether the runs are frequented throughout the whole year or not. It is, however, highly probable that they are merely resorted to as a rendezvous or

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play-ground at the pairing time and during the period of incubation. It was at this season Mr. Gould visited these localities, when he found that the bowers had been recently renewed. It was 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. A gentleman informed Mr. Gould, 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 were females. Mr. Gould, with much care and trouble, succeeded in bringing two fine specimens of these bowers to England, one of which he presented to the British Museum, and the other to the collection of Natural History at Leyden.

The Spotted Bower-bird (Chlamydera maculata) is peculiarly interesting, as being the constructor of a bower, even more extraordinary than the one just noticed, and in which the decorative propensity is carried to a far greater extent. It is as exclusively an inhabitant of the interior of the country, as the satin bower-bird is of the brushes between the mountain range and the coast. It has a disposition of extreme shyness, and therefore is seldom seen by ordinary travellers. Mr. Gould found that the readiest way of obtaining specimens was by watching at the water-holes, where they