These are the well-known Bower-birds of Australia, which I sincerely hope may not be extirpated by the white man, as has been the case with so many creatures, including the aborigines of Tasmania themselves. The Bower-birds, which are distantly related to our thrush and blackbird, but are about as large as jackdaws, have a curious habit of building arched bowers quite independent of their nests. The shape of one of these bowers is shown in the accompanying illustration. The bird first weaves a sort of platform of flexible sticks, and then fastens into them a number of other sticks, so set that they form a sort of arched gallery. Through this gallery the birds love to run, and they invariably decorate the ends with anything pretty that they can pick up, such as feathers, coloured stones, shells, ornaments, and the like. So well is this proclivity known, that whenever any one who is living in the Bush loses any small piece of property, such as a pencil-case or watch-key, or even a tobacco-pipe, he always goes to the Bower-bird’s pleasure garden, and mostly discovers the lost property. [Illustration: PLAYGROUND OF BOWER-BIRD.] [Illustration: GARDEN BOWER.] At the Zoological Gardens these Bower-birds have long lived, and it is a most interesting sight to watch them weaving their platforms, raising the bowers over them, and then keep running in at one end and out at the other, like children at play, and with their burnished plumage gleaming in the sunbeams. The right-hand figure simply depicts a modern pleasure garden, and needs no description. USEFUL ARTS. CHAPTER IX. ARTIFICIAL WARMTH.--RING AND STAPLE.--THE FAN. Various Modes of warming Houses.--The Fire of the American Indian and the Kafir.--The Oil-lamp of the Esquimaux.--The open Fireplace and Chimney Stoves.--The laminated Stove and its Powers.--Gills of the Lobster, Crab, and various Fishes.--Mode in which the Gills act.--Why Fishes lie with their Heads against the Stream.--Drowning a Fish.--The Ring and Staple, and their various Uses.--Head-bones of the Fishing-frog or Angler-fish.--The Fan and its Modifications.--Japanese and Chinese Fans.--The Feather Fan.--The Palm-leaf.--Indian Fans.--The Hive Bee and its Wings.--Fans of the Essequibo and South Sea Islanders.--The Fan Fire-guard.--Antennæ of the Cockchafer.--Burial.--Various Modes of disposing of the Dead.--Ordinary Habits of dying Animals.--Dead Insects.--The Funeral-ant and its wonderful Habits. ARTIFICIAL WARMTH. Passing from the direct to the indirect comforts of a household, we will take Artificial Warmth.