194 THE LYRE-BIRD. 



"Of all the birds I have ever met with, the Menura is far the most shy and difficult to 

 procure. While among the mountains I have been surrounded by these birds, pouring forth 

 the loud and liquid calls for days together, without being able to get a sight of them, and 



LYRE-BIRD. Menura rujurba. 



it was only by the most determined perseverance and extreme caution that I was enabled 

 to effect this desirable object, which was rendered more difficult by their often frequenting the 

 almost inaccessible and precipitous sides of gullies and ravines, covered with tangled masses 

 of creepers and umbrageous trees ; the cracking of a stick, the rolling down of a small stone, 



