h'ESTS AND EGGS OF AT'STJiATJAN BIRDS. i;oo 



"The young, whicli are liatched parly in August, but somotimcs as 

 late as the end of September, are of a wliitv-brown colour upon leaving 

 the egg, but become darker as thcv got older; Ihe crown of llie liead is 

 covered witli long, duslcy slate coloiu'od down, which hangs over the 

 neck (which is auite bare) on to the back : the wings have a fringe of 

 shorter down round them, which is longest on their lower edge ; the 

 upper part of the mmp, centre of the back, and the tail arc also covered 

 with down, while two rows of short down grow along the thighs. Tlie 

 bare triangular part of the neck is suiTounded by a narrow fringe of 

 very short, down, while two ridges still shorter, and of a light-yellow 

 colour, grow on either side of the breast or keel of the sternum. Down 

 on the head from one and a-half to two inches in length, on riimn and 

 tail it is two inches long. Bill -5 inch in length, blackish-brown at tip ; 

 tarsi '8 inch in length." 



Tlie first nests (or those found up to 1868) that came into 

 Dr. Ramsav's possession, with the exception of one, were procured in 

 the IllawaiTa district, chiefly from the ravines and gullies in the 

 neighbourhood of Appin and Wollongong. Tlicy were bulky and loosely 

 built, and great care had to be taken in moving the ne.sts to prevent 

 them falling to pieces. 



At a meeting of the Zoological Societv (London), held 23rd January'. 

 1868, Mr. Gould, who was in the chair when Dr. Ramsay's communi- 

 cation was read, exhibited skins of Mnnira sujifrhn and M. virtnrifF. 

 with a chick and egg of the latter species, and direct^-d the attention of 

 the meeting to the peculiar condition of the bird at this early stage 

 of its existence (two davs after its emergence from the egg), when its 

 appearance was so extraordinary as to render it difficult for the most 

 astute ornithologist to detei-mine to what genus it belonged, the entire 

 surface being thickly covered mth a lengthened sooty -black down, which 

 assumed the fonii of a cowl or hood over the head, while the imder 

 surface was so sparsely clothed that the throat, flanks, and thighs were 

 nearly naked. The chick also diff'ered from those of most other birds 

 in the feebleness or comparative non-development of the tarsi, toes, 

 and nails. It is evident, therefore, Mr. Gould said, that the solitary 

 yoimg Lyre Bird remained sitting in its gi-eat domed nest, and was 

 entirely dependent upon its parents for food and protection until its 

 feeble legs had become fully developed and its body covered with real 

 fcathei's. Whether the chick was blind on exclusion from the egg, was 

 at present unknown, and this was a point it would be veiT interesting 

 to ascertain. 



Back in the brushes near Gosford. north of Svdney (New South 

 Wales), Mr. R. C. Chandler observed several nests on ledges of 

 sandstone, and in low cabbage palms. 



A writer to a weekly journal gave as his experience that the Lyre 

 Birds build in low places, in the roots of a tree that has been torn up 

 with the wind, or in an opening between rocks, on the top of a stag- 

 hom fern, or in the end of a hollow log. He never saw a nest more 

 than fifteen feet from the ground. 



