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ground and grass paroquets, as the lovely king, rosehill, Adelaide parrots, lory, and others, living upon the seeds of various grasses which abound on the plains.
When contemplating these gorgeously-arrayed specimens and drawings before us, we may consider that, in comparison with others of the animal kingdom, birds may unquestionably take the first station of interest, that is, if sweetness of voice, elegance of form, or beauty and brilliancy of colouring are peculiarities which may be allowed to constitute the superiority of one class of beings over another. They are both poetically and literally the butterflies of the vertebrate animals, flitting from plant to plant, from flower to flower, living less on earth than in the air, and having their wings ornamented with feathers of bright and varied colours. Birds have also been called the flowers of the animated creation, with melody instead of perfume; they display the same beauties of form, brilliancy of colour and charms, which excite our admiration; and how beautifully this is exemplified in these lovely humming birds (of which the drawings are before you), to which these remarks are applicable. Who does not admire birds, their graceful and flitting movements, their harmonious music, as if it were "the tongues of trees," and their intimate union with all the sweet sympathies of external nature—the green fields, the blue sky, the balmy air—have ever made them objects of pleasing interest to man.
In commencing the domestication of our indigenous birds, both useful and ornamental, we cannot select one more interesting than the satin bower birds (ptilonorhynchus holosericeus). They have succeeded both in England and in this city, in being kept in a state of captivity, but have not yet built a nest, laid eggs, or reared their young; indeed, the nest and eggs of this bird are at present unknown. They are amusing, playful, and delightful mocking birds, imitating the notes of the various birds within hearing.
The adult male satin bird has a glossy blue-black plumage, of satiny texture. The young males and females are of a dull green colour, which in the males becomes spotted with black, and they do not attain their full plumage for three and four, or even five years.
The satin bower birds are found in New South Wales, but the pink-necked or spotted bower birds (chlamydera maculata), whose habits are precisely similar, are found in Central, Northwest, and Northern Australia.
The bower constructed by these remarkable birds is, perhaps,
