522 



NESTS AXD EGGS 01- AUSTRALIAN BIRDS. 



Mr. A. W. Milligan, wlio has recorded some facts on the imitative 

 faculties of this " master of ornithological soug and mimicry, " says the 

 ojily soimd the Lyre Bird cannot successfully imitate is the soimd of 

 a bell attached to a horse's neck; the jingle-jangle of the bell as the 

 liorse moves its head in the act of feeding seeming to baffle it. It may 

 yet be proved that this bird is also an able ventriloquist. 



The birds seldom or never sing in windy weather, but in South 

 Gippsland, where the momitain spurs terminate abi-uptly at the sea, 

 and where birds may be found breeding withm one hundred yards of 

 the shore, it is dehghtful to catch their pm-e liquid calls above the boom 

 of the ocean billows, or to hear their musical cadenzas mingle with " the 

 son-owful song of the sea. " 



It should be mentioned that only the cock bu'd whistles and mocks 

 in tliis magnificent style ; the hen maJces but feeble attempts. I have 

 heard her endeavour to imitate in a quiet way the notes of the Strepera 

 and Jackass, and utter a squeaUng noise, especially about roosting 

 time. Mr. Hughes has heard them making such sounds about the 

 time the young begin to fly, as if the mother bird were teaching the 

 youngster to use its voice. 



The alarm note of both the male and the female is a short, sharp, 

 shrill whistle, not unlike that produced by a person placmg the tongue 

 against the upper front teeth after the fashion of the street arabs. 

 The call is a lower-pitched double note sounding like " bleck-bleck " or 

 " bullan-bullan." Both sounds, by the way, are aboriginal names for 

 the Lyre Bird. 



Mr. I. W. Ue Lany, who has had considerable experience among 

 Lyre Birds in Victorian forests, has not such a good opinion of the 

 mocking capabilities of the bird as most observers. He writes : — 

 " My experience as to mocking is that they do not, but every bird 

 whistles exactly alike, and a bird during the fii'st year, without a tail, 

 is as perfect in liis notes as the oldest. They only have the notes of a 

 few of the biids they are amongst. If they mimicked I should think 

 they ought to include every bird they hear. For instance, they 

 have the voice of the Black Cockatoo, but not of the white one, nor 

 of the Magpie, and many others I could mention that are reared in 

 the same country with them. As to imitating chopping, sawing, 

 cooeing, &c., it is the same as the wonderful things the old bushmen 

 tell us about — snakes chasing them, and Jackasses all congi-egating in 

 a tree to laugh at them when their di'ay gets stuck in the mud. ' 



As I have already mentioned, it is commonly known that the male 

 bird possesses a httle mound of earth, or hillock, or possibly more, 

 which the bu'd scrapes up usually in the thickest of ground scnib. 

 Upon this mound (which is about three feet in chameter) it capers and 

 dances, also proudly drooping its wings and displaying its elegant tail, 

 all the while poiu-ing forth its vaiied songs. Between periods there 

 comes from the throat a sjaasmodii buzzing or purring noise, while the 

 tail with qiuvoring quills is expanded or reflected over the back. 



The food of the Lyre Bird consists piincipally of beetles, centipedes, 

 scorpions, wonns, land-crabs, and snails, and occasionally something 

 more substantial in the shape of bush mice. 



