Sa. Kitson, Notes on the Victoyia Lyre-Bird. \ 



Emu 

 2nd Oct. 



short hen-like notes, and pretended to pick up a grub here and 

 there and to be unconcerned about the dance. She, however, 

 cast occasional glances at the male birds, and was doubtless making 

 her choice of a mate. I was in a hurry to search for a missing 

 horse, and could not watch them for more than a few minutes, so 

 quietly went past and left them undisturbed. 



Mimicry. 



The Lyre-Bird is an extraordinarily good mimic. No sound is 

 too difficult for it to reproduce, and the imitation, in the case of all 

 sweetly musical notes, is an exact reproduction of the originals, 

 while of those of a harsh nature it is a highly relined imitation. 

 Its rendering of the rich liquid notes of the Grey Magpie {Strepera 

 cuneicaudata), the Butcher-Bird {Cracticiis destructor), the Grey 

 Thrush {Collyriocincla harmonica), the Magpie {Gymnorhina leitco- 

 nota and G. tibicen) is superb ; similarly with the chirp and twitter 

 of the small Scrub-Wrens and Tits. In the case of the Laughing 

 Jackass {Dacelo gtgas), the harsh, grating, laughter-like effort of 

 this quaint bird is rendered in a manner so refined as to afford a 

 pleasing contrast with the original. The swish of the coach-driver's 

 whip, the sound of the saw and axe, which I have heard on the 

 Blacks' Spur and near Marysville, are perfect deceptions, and the 

 rapidity with which the notes of various birds are rendered, the 

 gliding of one bird's notes into those of another, and the rendering 

 of two or more simultaneously, are nothing short of marvellous. 

 The male bird is much the better and more ]:)owerful whistler, 

 but the female is practically as good a mimic. I have no doubt 

 that the Lyre-Bird is a mocking bird, for, even supposing it to 

 owe to heredity its faculty for imitating the birds of the forest, as 

 has been suggested, it can have acquired the art of imitating sounds 

 of human origin only since the settlement of the country in which 

 it is found. 



Lyre-Birds in Captivity. 



It is generally supposed that these birds cannot be reared and 

 kept in captivity. Several attempts have, I believe, been made in 

 the Zoological Gardens, Melbourne, but the birds have always 

 died in a short time. There are several instances known, however, 

 in which such attempts have been successful. The most notable 

 one is that of a resident of the Wood's Point district (Upper Goul- 

 burn), who, so Mr. O. A. L. Whitelaw tells me, reared several of 

 these birds, which fed with the fowls and were quite tame. The 

 owner decided upon proceeding to America to exhibit the birds as 

 one of the curiosities of Australia, but before matters had been 

 arranged all of them were ])oisoncd, it was sujiposed, by some 

 malicious person.* 



* Writing under "Nature Notes" in '/'/le Art^us of the 28th July, 1905, Mr. Donald 

 Macdonald incidentally .substantiates this fact. A correspondent', Mr. J. C. IVIahan, 

 of Wood's Point, in giving some particulars about saving and keeping Lyre-Birds in 

 captivity, states: — ''When I found a nest 1 left the chicken for 30 days after it was 



