%Ln^'] TREGELLAS, Notes on the Lyre-Bird. 101 



was dead in llic nest, and a new growth of fronds hemmed it 

 in. Had the httle one been ahve, no fronds would have shown 

 through the nest, as the birds keep them bitten back as long as 

 the nest is inhabited. No. 2 was also untenanted, as we ex- 

 pected. From No. 3 the young one bounded as we approached 

 and ran into the forest with his mother. He was 5i weeks 

 old when he left home. We searched for an hour and found 

 the young one hidden under a log, though the mother lied glibly 

 in telling us he had gone up the hill. After placing him in the 

 nest we took photographs of him there and in the hand. As it 

 was the last opportunity we would have, we placed a ring on 

 his leg by way of remembrance. 



NOTES ON THE ROOSTING HABITS. 



Although we had seen the birds on more than one occasion 

 preparing to go to roost, and had heard a good deal about their 

 habits when so doing, it was not until the evening of March 

 26th, 1921, that we had a practical demonstration of the manner 

 in which they ascend to their roosting places in the trees. 



Coming down the track through the Sherbrooke forest late 

 that evening, and waiting about the Falls to see the birds feeding 

 around the tables at the picnic grounds, we were granted a most 

 wonderful experience. We saw no birds feeding, but just as 

 we were leaving the locality a slight noise to our left betokened 

 something moving, and we were delighted to sec three or four 

 birds in the act of ascending. Using both legs and wings, they 

 jumped from the ground to the dogwood scrub, and when they 

 could get no higher in that they crossed to the blarkwoods and 

 repeated the operation, jumping and flapping from limb to limb 

 and from side to side, as occasion demanded, till they were 

 amongst the topmost branches. Here one or two of them 

 stayed, and the others flew across to a big mountain ash and 

 ascended still higher, till they were fully as high again as those 

 left in the blackwood. The.se latter w^ere about 60 feet from 

 the ground. 



It was an easy matter for them to ascend in this manner, and 

 a young man selling fruit at the picnic ground told me he often 

 .saw them at the same spot, and one night counted seventeen. 

 They were not at all perturbed at our presence, and showed not 

 the least alarm. From many of the big gums in the vicinity 

 others called, using a call resembling the first two bars of the 

 Kookaburra chorus, and these calls and replies were repeated 

 till darkness fell. 



The next morning (March 27th, 1921) I w^ent up alone, and 

 a short distance along the track saw a fine male scratching for 

 his breakfast. I approached carefully and secreted myself. 

 A most profitable quarter of an hour was then spent in watching 

 his movements. Later I saw a chance, and flung over a small 

 stone, which caused him to dart away instantly, and use language 

 unprintable. After s])ending the day in the forest, I returned 



