BOWER-BIRD, the name applied to birds of the family Ptilonorhynchidae, allied to the crows and birds of paradise (qq.v.). Like the latter, the bower-birds are confined to the trop ical parts of the Australian region. Their most characteristic feature is the habit of the males of forming " play-grounds," clearing a piece of ground for this purpose and decorating it with shells, fruits, stones, flowers and other gaily coloured objects. The gardener bower-bird (Amblyornis inornatus) builds a hut three feet in diameter of orchid stems covered with moss at the foot of a small tree, the stalks radiating from the central support and the cabin being left open on one side. Here, on a bed of moss, the ornaments—flowers and berries, which are replaced as they fade—are arranged. The satin bower-bird (Ptilonorhynchus holo sericus), abundant in the mountains of New South Wales, builds a long avenue of twigs, decorated at the entrance with shells, bones and feathers. The bower is used as a playground for both sexes though constructed by the male alone ; it has nothing to do with the nest, which may be some distance away. (See BIRD; COURTSHIP OF ANIMALS.) See R. B. Sharpe, Monograph of the Paradiseidae and Ptilonor hynchidae.