244 ROBERTS, Prince Edward's Lyre -Bird. [jll Ap"?n 



former was forwarded to the "H. L. White Collection," Mel- 

 bourne, and described by Mr. A. H. Chisholm as a new species, 

 Menura cdzvardi {Emu, April, 1921). The other pair will go to 

 the same destination as the first male. During August, 1920, Mr. 

 A. H. Chisholm spent a day with me amongst the rocks and 

 birds, and to him I am indebted for the permit from the Queens- 

 land Government to obtain the skins. To Mr. Huxham, Minis- 

 ter for Education, the thanks of all bird lovers are due for tlie 

 active interest he took in the birds whilst on a visit here, resulting 

 in the propaganda for protection through that best of all media 

 — the schools. 



The actual range of the bird in Queensland, and I always ex- 

 cept the Killarney Range {vide infra), is, as I have indicated, 

 very restricted. A line drawn from Piallandean due east to the 

 border, and from luiUandean due south to the border would 

 catch nine-tenths of the birds in the district, and the other one- 

 tenth would be close up. By producing these lines into New 

 South Wales, valuable boundaries will also be defined. The total 

 range here then would be over an area of 12 x 12 miles slightly 

 greater previously, but now restricted by settlement. It is the 

 roughest and highest part of the belt (a land of beauty and bar- 

 renness), averaging 3500 feet above sea level, and picturesque 

 to a degree. A reference to I'late 1 will show the class of coun- 

 try ; narrow, deep gorges flanked by enormous smooth rocks or 

 broken country, in which are poised huge round granite boulders 

 in groups. The timber is essentially open — rather stunted euca- 

 lypts, chiefly stringy bark, tea-trees, wattles, and light under- 

 growth, the litter as a rule extremely dry and very loose, an im- 

 portant point, and where there is a soak moss abounds. These 

 soaks soon drain the spongy soil lying on top of the granite foun- 

 dation, and with the free access of sunlight account for the con- 

 dition of the litter, and the presence of the moss beds. The bare 

 flat rocks in places cover many acres, and are deeply scored and 

 stained by the soak runs. A small one is shown in the foreground 

 of Plate 1. In the middle distance on the right are the Pyramids 

 — two enormous, round, bare hills, f)ne mile and a half in cir- 

 cumference and 500 feet above the surroundings. In the back- 

 ground is Mt. Norman, with Castle Rock, 4000 feet odd above 

 sea level. I have seen Lyre-Birds right up to its summit. 



Further study of the picture reveals the special distribution of 

 the pairs at nesting time, their territory, of which each male is 

 a king, and occupied year after year. Each has headquarters in 

 a group of rocks, 1, 2, 3 and more acres in extent. At the ba.se 

 of the Pyramids is a group (A) ; half a mile to the left is a 

 second group (B) ; beyond B, and again within an easy half mile 

 to the left of B are two more groups, C and D. These groups 

 are in constant occupation in each nesting season, and are men- 

 tioned especially, not only as typical of the whole area, but be- 

 cause the three eggs which I have sent to the Belltrces collection 

 were taken from the three groups of rocks, A. B. C, nearest the 

 artist during the seasons of 1919-1921. From (he fourth group 



