524 LYRE-BIRD 



systematizers — who had to judge merely from its superficial 

 characters. The JBrst to describe any portion of its anatomy was 

 Eyton, who in 1841 {Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. vii. pp. 49-53) per- 

 ceived that it was truly a member of the Order then called Insessores, 

 and that it presented some points of affinity to the South American 

 genus Fteroptochus i^ but still there were many who could not take 

 advantage of this step in the right direction. In 1867 Prof. 

 Huxley stated that he was disposed to divide his very natural 

 assemblage the Coracomorphx (essentially identical with Eyton's 

 Insessores) into two groups, " one containing Menura, and the other 

 all the other genera which have yet been examined " (Proc. Zool. 

 Soc. 1867, p. 472) — a still further step in advance. ^ In 1875 the 

 present "vvTiter put forth the opinion {Encijcl. Brit. ed. 9, iii. p. 741) 

 that Menura had an ally in another Australian form, Atrichia 

 or AtricJiornis (Scrub-BIRD), which presented peculiarities hitherto 

 unsuspected, and accordingly regarded them as standing by them- 

 selves, though each constituting a distinct Family. This opinion 

 was partially adopted in the following year by Garrod, who (Proc. 

 Zool Soc. 1876, p. 518) formally placed these two genera together 

 in his group of Abnormal Acromyodian Oscines under the name of 

 Menurinse ; but the author sees no reason to change his mind, and 

 herein he is corroborated by Mr. Sclater, who at once recognized 

 {Ibis, 1880, p. 345) the alliance and distinctness of the Families 

 Menuridse and Airichiidx, forming of them a group which he \m- 

 luckily called PsEUDOSCiNES. 



Since the appearance in 1865 of Gould's Handbook to the Birds 

 of Australia^ little if any fresh information has been published con- 

 cerning the habits of this form, and the account therein given must 

 be drawn upon for what here follows. Of all birds, says that 

 author, the Menura is the most shy and hard to procure. He has 

 been among the rocky and thick " brushes " — its usual haunts — 

 hearing its loud and liquid call-notes for days together without 

 getting sight of one. Those who wish to see it must advance only 

 while it is occupied in singing or scratching up the earth and 

 leaves ; and to watch its actions they must keep perfectly still — 

 though where roads have been made through the bush it may 

 be more often observed and even approached on horseback. The 

 best way of procuring an example seems to be by hunting it with 

 dogs, when it will spring upon a branch to the height of ten feet 

 and afford an easy shot ere it has time to ascend further or escape 



^ He subsequently {Osteol. Avium, pp. 97, 98, pi. 3, F and pi. 14) described 

 and figured the skeleton. 



" Owing to the imperfection of the specimen at his disposal, Prof. Huxley's 

 brief description of the bones of the head in Menura is not absolutely correct. 

 A full description of them, with elaborate figures, is given by Parker in the same 

 Society's Transactions (ix. pp. 306-309, pi. Ivi. figs. 1-5). 



