Notes on the Lyre Bird (Menura vktoriae) 

 By A. E. Kitson 



The \'ictoria lyre birds are restricted to the densely timbered, moist, hilly,, 

 and mountainous parts of eastern Victoria, for they must have abundance of 

 moisture, and food consisting of insects, grubs, worms, etc. The jMelbourne to 

 Sydney railway may be taken as the approximate western limit of these birds. 

 They have not been found to the west of that line, nor even nearly up to it in 

 many parts. The reason apparently is that no densely timbered and scrubby 

 humid ranges, with permanent creeks in them, occur to the west of this line on 

 the northern side of the main divide, for neither Putter's Range nor the Mokoan 

 Range near Benalla possesses these characteristics- The main divide itself, 

 where the railway crosses it at Kilmore Junction, at an altitude of 1-,145 feet, is 

 rather low, and is not — apparently never was — densely scrubbed. Again, although 

 eminently suitable country for these birds is comprised by the Macedon Ranges 

 and those in the Blackwood district, near and on the main divide, also by the 

 Otway Ranges, no lyre birds are found there. In the case of the last, the reason 

 is undoubtedly its isolation. It is completely cut ofif from the other hilly and 

 mountainous districts of Victoria by the great volcanic plains of the western dis- 

 trict, which would form an effectual barrier to the dispersion of the lyre bird 

 southward, even if it were present on the main divide to the north. The bird is 

 so shy that, unless abundant cover be quite close at hand, it will not, under ordi- 

 nary circumstances, venture into the open forest country, much less cross wide 

 tracts devoid of arboreal vegetation. It is not so obvious why the lyre bird is not 

 present in the thickly timbered and scrubby country of the Macedon Ranges, but 

 apparently this also is due to its comparative isolation. On the east it is separated 

 by a wide dissected volcanic plain, forming a natural barrier. The only prac- 

 ticable bridge of dispersion exists in the main divide itself, which from Wandong^ 

 on the railway takes a general northwesterly course- to Mount William, thence 

 southwesterly and southerly to Mount Macedon. About Mount William itself 

 there was, in its original state, a small area which might have been suitable for lyre 

 birds, but on the portions between Wandong and Macedon the want of sufficient 

 moisture and scrub is perhaps the reason of their absence. The birds seem to 

 have spread over southeastern Australia from New Guinea by following through 

 Queensland and New South Wales the mountains that form the watershed 

 between the Darling-Murrumbidgee basin and the Pacific Ocean ; and this within 

 comparatively recent time, considered from a geological point of view. 



It is a matter for wonder that in suitable country lyre birds have existed in 

 such numbers as they have done. The native carnivorous fauna destructive to- 

 them comprise the dingo or wild dog (Canis dingo), the "tiger cat" (Dasyurus 

 rnaciilatus), and the "native cat" {D. vivcrrinns). These animals, especially the 

 first two — which are much less numerous than the "native cats" — frequent lyre- 

 bird country. These birds build their nests in spots usually accessible to dingoes,. 



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