112 A BOOK OF BIRDS 



of what are known as the Oscinine Passeres, or Oscines, which are 

 distinguished by having the voice-muscles inserted into the ends of 

 the half-rings at the end of the windpipe. Strange to say, though 

 all the birds included in the second section are apparently well 

 equipped, and should prove fine songsters, only a few are really 

 good performers. Crows, for example, are certainly deficient as 

 singing birds ; yet they have the same voice- organ as the Nightin- 

 gale. But then the same is true of the human race — ^the voice- 

 muscles of the most tuneless among us do not differ essentially from 

 those of the most divine singers ! 



The curiously aberrant type known as the Lyre-bird (Plate 

 XXIV. fig. 5) represents the first of the two sections just referred to. 

 According to most authorities this bird is placed apart from the 

 true Oscinines, and made to form a sub-group, or section, because 

 its voice-muscles, though resembling those of the " true Oscinines," 

 are not the same in number — three instead of from five to seven 

 pairs ; but for our purpose this may be ignored. The Lyre-bird is 

 a native of Australia. More correctly we should speak of Lyre-birds, 

 for three species are known. That which forms the subject of our 

 illustration is found in New South Wales and South Queensland. 



These birds are remarkable for the peculiar form of the tail, the 

 two outer feathers of which are of great length, and so curved as to 

 form a general resemblance in outline to the old-fashioned and now 

 obsolete musical instrument known as the Lyre — hence the name of 

 the bird. The inner tail-feathers have a quite peculiar structure, 

 lending the whole a strangely soft and filmy appearance. 



" These birds inhabit precipitous sandy gullies in thick forests 

 with tangled undergrowth," says Mr. A. H. Evans, and continues : 

 ** Each cock has a walk, or playground, and scrapes little hillocks, or 

 hollows, for dancing-places, where he struts or pirouettes with erect 

 tail and drooping wings, scratching, pecking, and singing at intervals. 

 The normal cry is a loud, liquid, gurgling sound ; but the ' Pheasants,' 

 as the colonists call them, are clever mockers, imitating a cock's crow, 

 a hen's cackle, a dog's bark or howl, the Laughing Jackass's note, 

 or even the setting of a saw." 



They lay but one egg, in a bulky nest of sticks, grass, and so on, 

 lined with moss and feathers, and placed either in the fork of a tree 



