130 TENUIROSTRES. 



The birds belonging to this sub -family are gene- 

 rally seen in pairs, examining the low thickets or 

 coarse herbage in open plains, or on the outskirts and 

 open places of woods and forests, and even in the 

 neighbourhood of houses. Their flight is low and 

 short, and they are in the habit of concealing tliem- 

 selves amongst the foliage of thickets, or in holes 

 and crevices, and reappearing unexpectedly in 

 another quarter. Various kinds of insects, either 

 in the perfect state or that of the larva, form their 

 principal subsistence, and some species thus render 

 infinite service to gardens and cultivated places. 

 Most of them possess a sweet, lively, and powerful 

 whistling song, which they utter with great anima- 

 tion, often repeating the same note over and over 

 again. Their nest is placed against the branch of a 

 tree, a bank, the wall of a house, or any place that 

 offers warmth and security for their young. It is 

 composed of moss and other soft materials, put 

 together usually in an oval form, leaving only a 

 small entrance on one side, near the top. The eggs 

 are generally four in number. Although the birds 

 belonging to this sub-family are ordinarily of small 

 dimensions, the selected type of the race is a large 

 and handsome species, called from its peculiar 

 plumage — 



The Lyre-hird [Menura superha). The Lyre-bird is 

 a native of New South Wales, where it inhabits the 

 brushwood upon the coast and upon the mountains in 

 the interior. It equals in size our own common 

 Pheasant ; but its limbs are longer in proportion, and its 

 feet much larger. In the male, the feathers of the head 

 are elongated into a crest, and the genei^al plumage is 

 full, soft, and downy. The most striking feature, how- 

 ever, is the tail, which is converted into a beautiful 

 plume-like ornament, representing, when erect and 

 expanded, the figure of a lyre; whence is derived the 

 name of its possessor. This ornamental appendage, 

 however, is confined to the male ; in the female, the tail 

 is long and graduated, and the feathers are pei'fectly 

 ^ webbed on both sides of the shaft. 



