and lasily so U) the clinihiiijj "cats." They have ahnost invariably only one young 

 one a year, and yet in most of Gippsland and the northeastern district lyre birds 

 exist in much greater numbers than many of the other larger birds which nest in 

 much less dangerous situations, such as the gray magpie, king lory, wonga-wonga, 

 and bronze-winged pigeons, laughing jackass, and black cockatoo. The lyre bird 

 is a day bird anil roosts in trees at night, so except at nesting time it is jiractically 

 safe from attack. It is a strong, active bird, and couM, even if attacked by a "cat" 

 in a tree, either free itself or drag the "cat" to the ground in its first struggle. But 

 it is comparatively helpless when in the nest, and certainly the young are com- 

 pletely so. One fact, however, aids in its protection- The nest is usually not 

 easily seen, especially if the female bird is insitle with her tail raised over her 

 head, as is her wont, thus nearly filling up the entrance and breaking the noticeable 

 black cavity of the empty nest. 



Near the source of the King River I have seen the birds going to roost in tall 

 green trees. They can not fly upward like an ordinary bird, but rather partially 

 jump upward in a slanting direction with their outspread wings aiding them by 

 soaring, not flapping. To get into these tall young trees, ranging up to nearly 100 

 feet in height, they went up by stages, taking advantage of short and long tree 

 ferns and the branches of smaller trees. 



But the days of the lyre bird are numbered unless it develops the habit of 

 nesting in trees or spots inaccessible to its far more dangerous enemy, an intro- 

 duced one, the European fox. Scattered feathers and occasional feet are fre- 

 quently met with in some parts of the country and attest the depredations of the 

 fox, which has now spread over nearly the whole, if not the whole, of the State, 

 and has moreover, developed the faculty of ascending slightly leaning trees. 



.\s regards South Gippsland the lyre bird is doomed to extinction, and that 

 by- the agency of man. The mass of hilly country between the valleys of the 

 Latrobe on the north ; the Tarago, Lang Lang, and the Bass on the west ; the 

 Powlett and Tarwin and the narrow strip between Foster and Merriman Creek 

 on the south and southeast, was a large tract, covered with an extremely dense 

 vegetation and in a continuously moist or wet state before settlement took place. 

 It was united to the main mass of the mountain system of eastern Victoria by a 

 narrow elevated tract of volcanic and similarly timbered country between Warra- 

 gul and Longwarry. In every gully and on every spur the lovely notes of the lyre 

 bird could be heard, and evidence of its occupation could be seen on every hand. 

 Thousands of these birds must have sported about this country, making the other- 

 wise rather silent forest a huge natural concert hall. Now, alas, the march of 

 settlement, w^ith its breechloaders, forest spoliation, and bush hres, has brought 

 about a sad change from a naturalist's point of view. With the disappearance of 

 the scrub goes the lyre bird, and as the country gets cleared from various sides, 

 so patches only of scrubby country are left. These become the temporary home 

 of such of the outcasts as have escaped the gun, the clearing, and the fire, till they, 

 in their turn, become felled and burnt, when the lyre birds disappear. 



93; 



