300 BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA. 



perfectly motionless, or it vanishes from sight as if by magic. 

 But the Menura is not always so alert ; for in some of the more 

 accessible brushes through which roads have been cut, it 

 may frequently be seen, and on horseback even closely 

 approached, the bird apparently evincing less fear of those 

 animals than of man when thus unaccompanied. At Illawarra 

 it is sometimes successfully pursued by dogs trained to rush 

 suddenly upon it, when it immediately leaps upon the branch 

 of a tree, and, its attention being attracted by the dog which 

 stands barking below, it is more easily approached and shot. 



The Lyre-bird is of a wandering disposition ; and although 

 it keeps to the same brush, it is constantly traversing it from 

 one end to the other, from mountain-top to the bottom of the 

 gullies, whose steep and rugged sides present no obstacle to 

 its long legs and powerful muscular thighs ; it is also capable 

 of performing extraordinary leaps ; and I have heard it stated 

 that it will spring to the ledge of a rock or the branch of a tree 

 ten feet perpendicularly from the ground. It appears to be of 

 solitary habits, as I have never seen more than a pair together, 

 and these only in a single instance ; they were both males, 

 and were chasing each other round and round with extreme 

 rapidity, apparently in play, pausing every now and then to 

 utter their loud shrill calls : while thus employed, they carried 

 the tail horizontally, as they always do when running quickly 

 through the brushes, that being the only position in which it 

 could be conveniently borne. Among its many curious habits 

 is that of forming small round hillocks, which are constantly 

 visited during the day, and upon which the male is con- 

 tinually trampling, at the same time erecting and spreading 

 out his tail in the most graceful manner, and uttering his 

 various cries, sometimes pouring forth his natural notes, at 

 others mocking those of other birds, and even the howhng of 

 the Dingo. The early morning and the evening are the 

 periods when it is most animated and active. 



It may truly be said that all the beauty of this bird lies in 



