Vol. XXI 

 1922 



] ROBERTS, Prince Edzcard's Lyre -Bird. 247 



double or treble boltint^ lane so that tlie bird can get ciuickly out 

 of sight. 



As to height, I have seen them placed on the gnnuid and 25 

 feet up, and though usually about 8 feet, I feel sure the bird can 

 jump twice this height without disturbing a feather. 



Now is the time to get exhibitions of volplaning, whi,ch will be 

 briefly described for the reason that it can be better studied in 

 this open country than in other haunts of the bird. It is a unique 

 function, and requires special technique to get a good view. 

 Proceed as follows : — Creep up on to the top side of a rock, on 

 the other side of which a bird is performing, and if you are 

 heartless rush round. The male at other times makes ofif in a 

 hang-dog way, his tail as nearly between his legs as he can get 

 it, and quietly obliterates himself. But now, losing sight of his 

 mate in the excitement, he will appear 50 yards off on a boulder 

 or sloping tree, leaping, jumping, twirling. Disregard him, and 

 make in the direction the hen has taken. Do your worst to 

 frighten her. She w'ill surely make towards her excited mate. 

 On reaching him, they volplane 100 or 200 yards with a very 

 gradual slope, and at a rapid pace, rising slightly at will, taking 

 curves, and generally having some control of direction. Para- 

 chuting is similar but slower and used in play; gliding I will refer 

 to later. The wings in all three are used only as balancers. 



In July the hen lays her egg, plucks a few feathers from her 

 thigh coverts, and leaves the nest for a few days. The tgg be- 

 comes wrapped in the clinging feathers, and is well hidden, and 

 if you extract it from the nest, you always get on the hngers a 

 few feathers, which form the only soft lining. Returning in a 

 day or two, she sits closely, the tail over the back along the top 

 of the nest. I have not been able to verify here the statement 

 of Ramsay and Keene (Australian Zoologist, vol. 1, part 4, 

 Oct. 8, 1917, page 82), who describe the egg as being found cold 

 for hours at least at a time, and whenever I have called upon a 

 brooding lady, she has always been at home, or it meant disaster. 

 During incubation it is not easy at times to flush the bird, and 

 it is sometimes a matter of poking her off almost. She takes 

 her bound from within the nest, no pause, no delay, and makes 

 off round a rock out of sight. At times she will sit whilst you 

 watch her, and if you go away and return in a few minutes she 

 will have made off. Nor is it easy to make the bird desert either 

 the building or the occupied nest, and handling the egg and the 

 young are without effect. I am usually careful not to do too 

 much of either, but within reason it is quite allowable. No at- 

 tempts have been made to photograph the bird at the nest, etc., 

 as T think the results do not justify the means; it would fuss 

 the hen bird certainly, and the effect on the cock I do not know, 

 as he rarely appears. May be, he would refuse to function more 

 easily than the hen, as his general behaviour is very perplexing. 



After a month's incubation — it may be a few days over, but this 

 is difficult to decide — the young is hatched. It is a peculiar ob- 

 ject, and is, too, wrapped in the clinging feathers. An analysis 



