^"'lei^'-] ROP.ERTS, Prince Edtvard's Lyrc-Bird. 251 



oped, and thoroughly co-ordinated prior to any attempt at walk- 

 ing or locomotion. I will not enter into anatomical details. The 

 work of Garrod on the thigh muscle.s, and of Garrod and Fur- 

 bringer on the patagial muscles is described in general terms in 

 any good text book on the myology of birds, and I would not 

 dare to comment on them. The Bncyclopcedia Dritannica (vol. 

 17, page 180 b, 1911) quotes Eyton, who states that the "Meta- 

 tarsals are very remarkable in form, and their tendons strongly 

 ossified," which is the only specific reference I can find in my 

 limited library to the Lyre-Bird's ankle and foot. I have simply 

 indicated in what way the actions of the bird, as seen in the 

 field, ditier from those of other birds : I will not even say essen- 

 tially difi:'er, but they certainly do superficially. 



Nesting. — The nesting in the season at which the birds do, is 

 undoubtedly connected with a food supply of a specialised kind. 

 The fact that the hen is rarely found keeping the young bird 

 warm even shortly after hatching, argues that she requires most 

 of her daylight to collect the necessary food, and the habit of 

 storing it up in the gular pouch and feeding the young en masse 

 is a further time-saving device. As to the single egg, it has been 

 rightly suggested it may be the specialised reproduction of a bird 

 sure of rearing its brood. On the other hand the temperatvtre 

 at times falls here to 12 deg. F. in the screen; the nest is in ter- 

 ribly cold and exposed passage-ways, in many cases sunless, and 

 probably the temperature all day does not rise above 35 deg. The 

 base of the nest is wet and cold. My suggestion is that the bird 

 uses her very big thigh coverts (examine a female from here at 

 least, and you will be struck by them) and the thighs themselves 

 to almost marsupialise the egg. Could she deal with two or 

 three eggs and raise the temperature 80 deg.? I wonder? In 

 this district, as I have said before, I cannot verify the s^^atement 

 of Ramsay and Keene of the egg being found hot and cold. The 

 down covering differentiates the bird from Passeres, the young 

 of which are born naked. I can find no record of its length per- 

 sistence and characteristics except one by Leycester qioted by 

 Gould in regard to alberti, in which he mentions down as being 

 present at one month. Observations on this and other points 

 would be interesting, especially those made in the warmer coast 

 districts, for there is certainly a great discrepancy in the recorded 

 observations of the general development of the young bird as 

 found there and those observed here. 



My experience of the habitat of Menura agrees entirely with 

 that of Leycester {vide supra) in regard to the sharpness with 

 which it is defined. He says, "And what is most remarkable, 

 though similar, mountains and brushes exist on the rivers north 

 and south of these rivers (Richmond and Tweed), yet the M. 

 alberti is never to be found in them." There is great difficulty 

 in getting any information as to the western boundary of the 

 range of Mennra. The north in the case of novce-hollandicc is 

 defined sometimes as the Clarence usually as being the Richmond 

 River, and the south in the case of alberti is defined {vide supra) 



