190 THE FEATHERED TRIBES. 



January, 1798. The project of the governor completely succeeded. On the 24th the 

 soldiers returned with three of the Irishmen, who, on gaining the foot of the first 

 mountains, were so greatly fatigued, and also so fearful of the prospect before them, that 

 they asked to be allowed to return with the soldiers. The rest of the party returned on 

 the 9th of February. They appear to have travelled about one hundred and forty miles 

 in a south-west direction from Paramatta. 



They brought in ^-ith them a bird, which they called a pheasant ; it resembles the 

 common one in size, but its limbs are longer in proportion, and there are other consider- 

 able points of difference. The wings are short, concave, and rounded, and the quill 

 feathers are lax and feeble ; the general pkmiage is fidl, deep, soft, and downy. The tail, 

 however, is veiy remarkable : it is modified into a beautiful, long, plume-Uke ornament, 

 representing, when erect and expanded, the figure of a lyre ; hence its name — the lyre 

 bird, whUe, as the type of a new genus, it has received the ajjpcllation of menura superba. 



This ornamented tail is-restricted to the male bird. It consists of sixteen feathers ; of 

 these the outer one on each side is broadly but loosely webbed within, its outer web being 

 narrow ; as it proceeds it curves outwards, bends in, and again turns boldly outwards and 

 downwards, both together resembUng the framework of an ancient lyre, of which the 

 intermediate feathers are the strings ; these feathers, except the two central, which are 

 truly but narrowly webbed on the outer side, consist each of a slender shaft, with long 

 filaments, at a distance from each other, and spriagiug out alternately. The appearance 

 of these feathers, the length of which is about two feet, is peculiarly graceful ; their 

 coloui- is amber-brown, but the two outer tail-feathers are gray tipped with black, edged 

 with rufous, and transversely marked on the inner web \nt]\ transparent triangular bars. 

 In the female the tail is long and graduated, and the feathers are perfectly webbed on 

 both sides of the shaft, although their texture is soft and flowing. The general plumage 

 of the menura is amber-brown above, tinged with olive, and merging into rufous on the 

 wings and also on the throat. The under parts are ashy-gray. Mr. Gould says that^ 

 were he requested to suggest an emblem for Australia among its birds, he would select 

 the menura or lyre bird as being the most appropriate, being not only strictlj- pocidiar to 

 Australia, but, as far as is yet known, to the colony of New South Wales. 



The bird is exceedingly shy, and hence the same eminent naturalist says : " While 

 among the brushes I have been surrounded by these birds, pouring forth their loud and 

 liquid calls for days together, without being able to get a sight of them ; and it was only 

 by the most determined perseverance, and extreme caution, that I was enabled to effect 

 this desirable object, which was rendered the more difHcidt by their often frequenting 

 the most inaccessible and precipitous sides of gullies and I'avines, covered with tangled 

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

 small stone, or any other noise however slight, is suthciont to alarm it ; and none but 

 those who have traversed these rugged, hot, and suffocating brushes can fuUy understand 

 the excessive labour attendant on the pursuit of the menura. Independently of climbing 

 over rocks and fallen trunks of trees, the sportsman has to creep and crawl beneath and 

 among the branches witli the utmost caution, taking care only to advance when the 

 bird's attention is occupied in singing, or in scratching up the leaves in search of food. 

 To watcli its actions it is necessary to remain perfectly motionless, not venturing to move 

 even in the slightest degree, or it vanishes from sight as if by magic." 



In some of the more accessible brushes, it may, however, be frequently seen, and even 

 on horseback be closely approached, the bird apparently showing less fear of a horse 

 than a man. The bird is sometimes pursued by dogs trained to rush suddenly upon it, 

 when it immediately leaps upon the branch of a tree, and, its attention being attracted 

 by the dog which stands barking below, it is easily apju-oacluKl and shot. Another mode 

 of capturing this bird is by wearing the tuU of a full-plumaged male in the hat, keeping 



