WJ^ENS. 



99 



Sub-Fainily VII. 

 THE WRENS. MENURIN.E.* 



General Characteristics. — Bill move or less long and slender, with the culmen 

 usually slightly curved, and the sides compressed to the tip, which is scarcely emar- 

 ginated ; the nostrils lateral, with the opening protected by a homy scale or mem- 

 brane ; the wings more or less short and rounded ; the tail of various lengths, but 

 generally rounded ; the tarsi more or less long and slender ; the toes generally long, 

 with the outer toe longer than the inner, and slightly united at the base, the hind 

 toe long and strong ; the claws long, and more or less curved. 



The birds belonging to this sub-family are generally seen in 

 pairs, examining the low thickets or coarse herbage in open plains, 

 or on the outskirts and open places of woods and forests, and even 

 in the neighbourhood of houses. Their flight is low and short, 

 and they are in the habit of concealing themselves amongst the 

 foliage of thickets, or in holes and crevices, and reappearing un- 

 expectedly in another quarter. Various kinds of insects, either 

 in the perfect state or that of the larva, form their principal sub- 

 sistence, and some species thus render infinite service to gardens 

 and cultivated places. Most of them possess a sweet, lively, and 

 powerful whistling song, which they utter with great animation, 

 often repeating the same note over and over again. Their nest is 

 placed against the branch of a tree, a bank, the wall of a house, 

 or any place that offers warmth and security for their young. It 

 is composed of moss and other soft materials, put together usually 

 in an oval form, leaving only a small entrance on one side near 

 the top. The eggs are generally four in number. Although the 

 birds belonging to this sub-family are ordinarily of small dimen- 

 sions, the selected type of the race is a large and handsome species, 

 called from its peculiar plumage, 



The Lyre-Bird {Menura sitperbd). The lyre-bird is a native of New 

 South Wales, where it inhabits the brushwood upon the coast and upon the 

 mountains in the interior. It equals in size our own common pheasant ; but 

 its limbs are longer in proportion, and its feet much larger. In the male, the 

 feathers of the head are elongated into a crest, and the general plumage is 

 full, soft, and downy. The most striking feature, however, is the tail, which is 

 converted into a beautiful plume-like ornament, representing, when erect and 

 expanded, the figure of a lyre — whence is derived the name of its possessor. 

 This ornamental appendage, however, is confined to the male ; in the female, 



* tx.i]V(\, mene, the crescent moon ; ovpd, oura, a iai7„- the lyre-bird. 



7—2 



