May,"! O'DoNOGHUE, NotesoH Victovian Lvre-hird. i; 



1914 J ' .J 



I had been assured by a trapper whom I met in the Jeeralang 

 district, South Gippsland, that he could encompass the 

 destruction of a greater number of male birds^in one day with 

 the aid of " springers " than a sportsman could in a week with 

 a good dog and a gun. Having had, on more than one occasion, 

 ocular demonstration of the destruction wrought among the 

 " pheasants," as the Lyre-birds are popularly termed in Gipps- 

 land, by a keen sportsman behind a good working dog, I had 

 my doubts, and when an opportunity presented itself I 

 repeatedly tried the device, but, whether by reason of my lack 

 of skill, or the possession by the birds of a greater degree of 

 cunning than their Jeeralang compatriots, the only result 

 attendant on my efforts was a tail feather. The birds invariably 

 scratched the forked pegs out of the ground, and on one 

 occasion the slender sapling that constituted the " springer." 

 Surveyors' assistants have informed me that in some parts of 

 South Gippsland the only way they could prevent the Lyre- 

 birds scratching up the survey pegs and obliterating the 

 trenches was to weight the former with heavy logs and to 

 cover the latter with brushwood. 



The beds or mounds constructed by the cock bird for 

 whistling and dancing upon are usually ranged some distance 

 up the slope of the hillside, or along the crest of a spur. They 

 are more or less circular in outline, and of various sizes, the 

 general run of them coming under my observation being from 

 two to three feet in diameter. They are invariably selvedged 

 by vegetation, and are composed of vegetable loam collected 

 by the bird with its powerful claws. Those in daily use are 

 kept well stirred, but whether by the bird, in an occasional 

 quest of insect larvae, or by its claws when dancing, I have 

 been unable to determine. The disused beds soon become 

 covered with weeds, and in many cases several of these may 

 be noted in the immediate vicinity of one in daily use. This 

 circumstance would seem to warrant the assumption that the 

 bird passes the greater part of its existence in a circumscribed 

 area. 



The association of the Lyre-bird with the settlers' broods, 

 both in a state of captivity and in its feral state, has often been 

 chronicled, but, so far as my knowledge extends, I can only 

 recall one instance of interbreeding being made public. Some 

 eighteen years ago the well-known ornithologist. Mr. A. W. 

 Milligan, then resident at Traralgon, had in captivity several 

 hybrids, a cross between the male Lyre-bird and the domestic 

 fowl. These unique birds, when exhibited at a Melbourne dog 

 and poultry show, occasioned much interest, and were awarded 

 a special prize. They were fowl-like in form, but built on a 

 somewhat smaller scale. The plumage was lax and indeter- 



