102 TREGELLAS, Notes on the Lyre-Bird. [^tt^T 



to the Falls in the evening, and, in company of two ladies from 

 the Lodge, watched two more Lyre-Birds going to roost in the 

 blackwoods. 



On May 1st, 192L I took (by request) a small party of ladies 

 and gentlemen from Belgraxe, and in the evening had a fine view 

 of a pair of the birds scratching and feeding around us. As 

 darkness came on we saw several gomg to roost ; and, as one of 

 the ladies truly remarked, "It was worth going miles to see." My 

 diary reports this as "the end of a perfect day." 



On June 25th, 192L I took an Am.erican visitor and Mr. G. 

 Dyer with me, and this proved to be the most eventful and won- 

 derful of all the trips. Reaching the Falls at 4.30, we had lunch 

 and waited. About dusk a male and two females came along, 

 and fed past us; and, best of all, we saw fifteen of the birds 

 going to roost in the trees. It was awe-inspiring, and we could 

 scarce believe our eyes. Not one of them roosted less than 

 100 feet from the ground, and several of them were everv inch 

 of 150 feet. 



We counted fifteen birds, and there were many more calling 

 that we could not see. Taking into consideration those we saw 

 and those we heard calling all up and down the gullv, we calcu- 

 lated that there are at present fully 40 birds in the Sherbrooke 

 forest area, and the most remarkable thing about the visit was 

 that, w^ith one exception, all the birds seen were females. 



NOTES ON THE NESTING OF THE BIRDS— UP TO 

 DATE IN 1921. 



On June 6th I found the mounds being used, but no sign of 

 anything new in the way of nests until the 19th, when I found 

 a beautifully constructed nest on a broken tree-fern in the creek. 

 This nest was all complete and ready for the egg, and must 

 have been started at least three weeks before the date of my find. 

 This was No. 1 nest. 



On the 26th a nest was started on the top of a stump some 

 yards from the creek, just a ring of rough sticks. Xo. 2 nest. — 

 On July 2nd I found this nest very mucli advanced, being nearly 

 covered by the dome and having a platform erected in front. 

 About a mile further up the creek I found another nest nearly 

 ready in the heart of a tree-fern 15 feet high. This was No. 3 

 Tjest. Then a quarter of a mile further on I came across the 

 foundation of another nest resting on the mud about a foot from 

 the water. The males this day were calling splendidly, and a 

 fine view of one of them on a log was obtained. He elevated 

 his tail once only, and that for a second or two. 



My diary for the 10th reports "No eggs yet." There was 

 much rain on the hills, and I was forced to leave my camera in 

 a hollow log "to be called for." On July 17th I called at No. 1 

 nest and saw feathers showing which I knew meant an egg in- 

 side. This egg was a very pale one, larger than usual, and 

 mottled with few brownish and blackish spots. This pair of 



