kai, to the northward of the Liverpool plains; and it was
also equally numerous in all the low scrubby ranges in the neighborhood
of the Namoi, as well as in the open brushes that intersect the plains on
its borders. Mr. Gould is gifted with the eye of an observer; but from
the extreme shyness of its disposition, it generally escapes the
attention of ordinary travelers, and it seldom allows itself to be
approached near enough for the spectator to discern its colors. Its
'harsh, grating, scolding note,' betrays its haunts to the intruder; but,
when disturbed, it seeks the tops of the highest trees, and, generally,
flies off to another locality.

[Footnote A: _Chlamydera maculala_.--GOULD.]

Mr. Gould obtained his specimens most readily by watching at the
water-holes where they come to drink; and on one occasion, near the
termination of a long drought, he was guided by a native to a deep basin
in a rock where water, the produce of many antecedent months, still
remained. Numbers of the spotted bower-birds, honeysuckers, and parrots,
sought this welcome reservoir, which had seldom, if ever before,
reflected a white face. Mr. Gould's presence was regarded with suspicion
by the winged frequenters of this attractive spot; but while he remained
lying on the ground perfectly motionless, though close to the water,
their wants overpowered their misgivings, and they would dash down past
him and eagerly take their fill, although an enormous black snake was
lying coiled upon a piece of wood near the edge of the pool. At this
interesting post Mr. Gould remained for three days. The spotted
bower-birds were the most numerous of the thirsty assemblage there
congregated, and the most shy, and yet he had the satisfaction of
frequently seeing six or eight of them displaying their beautiful necks
as they were perched within a few feet of him. He states that the scanty
supply of water remaining in the cavity must soon have been exhausted by
the thousands of birds that daily resorted to it, if the rains which had
so long been suspended had not descended in torrents.

Mr. Gould discovered several of the bowers of this species during his
journey to the interior, the tiniest of which, now in the National
Museum, he brought to England. He found the situations of these runs or
bowers to be much varied. Sometimes he discovered them on the plains
studded with Myalls (_Acacia pendula,_) and sometimes in the brushes with
which the lower hills wer