BIRDS THAT LOVE SHOW

Hokitika Guardian, 22 August 1925, Page 4

BIRDS THAT LOVE SHOW

(By CL Masters, 15. A. in "Daily Mail".) \Ye road that a goldfinch at Barwoll Church. near Hinckley. has I toon in the habit of frequenting the porch after weddings anil picking' up confetti, anil in a garden near liy 1 1 :i-- built its nest ontiroly of this gaily ooloitred material, the effect being a resemblance to mosaic work. Why did it use the confetti? it may lie asked. No doubt the bird deliberately chose the material as appealing to its artistic sense. Colour and show appear to have a big part in the life of birds. The magpie, we know, loves to steal diamond rings, collar studs . anything which glitters. Other birds display the glorious colours of their own feathers as an aid to courtship. The bower lords of Australia scorn to possess this passion for bright colour more than any others. They are the only birds that build themselves quite elaborate drawing-rooms. These drawing-rooms are quite apart from their nests. The bower birds make them of woven grasses so the they form an arched compartment, just large enough for a ford to sit in. over a platform of firmly interlaced sticks. There is an entrance at each end. and in front of these a kind of museum. Here may be particularly striking shells; occasionally bits of scarlet rag that have withstood the scorching sun of the hush; all manners and sizes of coloured pebbles brought considerable distances, Naturalists say that the bower birds build themselves these bowers solely for recreation and enjoyment. At any rate it is known that they will disport themselves there tor hours for apparently no other reason than satisfying their sense of the aesthetic.