Page:Acclimatisation; its eminent adaptation to Australia.djvu/24

22 the most extraordinary event in bird architecture, more especially as not being a nest for the young, but a playing-place—a decorated ball-room as it has been called—wherein the young couple flirt, and make love previous to entering upon connubial life. It is constructed with a consummate skill, amusing to witness. They may be observed constructing their runs at all seasons of the year, and imitating, when at work, the notes of the various birds around. The bird is seen, from the remains of an old broom, or any twigs thrown into the aviary, to take a twig, place it firmly in the ground, slightly bent inward, the bower being left open at the top, and forming a run of an uncertain length. The ornamentation of this run is a source of constant solicitude to the birds. Almost daily they make a fresh arrangement of bright coloured feathers, shells, bleached bones, bits of coloured rags, and other decorative materials which they bring from long distances when in a wild state, and appropriating every ornament placed within their reach when in captivity. Like the magpie, it is a great thief, appropriating all the bright or shining articles it can procure for the purpose of decorating their playing place. When completed, the male entices the female, "fully aware, no doubt," as a satirical writer observes, "that the fair are attracted by a handsome establishment." It is then most amusing to witness the antics of these birds, running in and out of it, performing various polkas, making attitudes to each other, the males setting their feathers in the most grotesque manner, and perform a galop with as much enjoyment as many of the human bipeds.

There is another species which has received the name of "cat bird" (Ptilonorhynchus Smithii). It is of a green colour, more or less spotted with white. It has received its colonial name from the singular note it utters, which can only be compared to the nightly philharmonic concerts of the domestic cat, and the sound must be a source of great delight to the Londoner exiled in the bush, bringing before him agreeable reminiscences of home.

The various pigeons indigenous to the colony, such as the wonga wonga, harlequin, and other bronze-wings, are all delicious for eating. The first named has the flesh white, delicate, and of of surpassing flavour. The large fruit-eating pigeons of the northern districts would also form a great acquisition. They are strictly arboreal in their habits, frequenting the lofty fig-trees and feeding upon the fruit, and their flesh is excellent eating. The beauty of their plumage would also render them an acquisition to the aviary.