368 NOTES ON THE VICTORIA LYRE BIRD, 



out ill front, and screeching. As it grew older it sometimes pecked 

 at my hand when thrust into the nest and always screeched. This, 

 however, was never long sustained, except on movement of the 

 hand, and it remained quite still if the hand were still. 



I watched it carefully till it was nearly fledged, but one day I heard 

 the distress signal several times in rapid succession. On reaching 

 the place I found the poor creature dead in the nest. It had suffered 

 no apparent injury, there were no signs of damage to the nest or 

 of any struggle, and the only conclusion I could come to was that 

 it had been bitten hym tiger snake {Hoplocephah/s curtus). The 

 nest was in the side of the gully, about 5 feet from the bottom, and 

 easily accessible to animals and reptiles. The snake had, I think, 

 put its head into the nest, been pecked by the bird, and after at once 

 biting it had withdrawn and disappeared. I made careful search to 

 confirm this view, but could not, as the place afi'orded no chance of 

 seeing a snake track of any kind. Had a fox killed it, the bird would 

 undoubtedly have been dragged out of the nest. The snake, as 

 every bushman knows, is of a very enterprising nature and par- 

 ticularly partial to exploring nests of birds, whether on the ground 

 or in trees and scrub. I have nearh'' tramped on one crawling along 

 a scrub-suspended fallen tree, at a height of 10 feet from the ground, 

 the snake being there probably with the dual view of getting direct 

 sunlight and young birds, and I for less laborious and quicker prog- 

 ress than was practicable in the tangled vegetation on the ground. 



In the case of another nest near I found there was no sign of any 

 old bird until the young one screeched on being touched. Then, like 

 a flash, the female bird Avas on the spot, uttering notes somewhat sim- 

 ilar to those of a " clucking hen." On seeing me she flew first into a 

 tree fern, watching intently meanwhile, then onto the ground and 

 scratched away, gradually working up almost to within kicking dis- 

 tance. All this time she quietly imita,ted three or four notes of the 

 magpie and those of a few other birds. When any movement was 

 made she jumped or ran away a few yards and resumed her quest for 

 grubs. When the young one screeched rapidly several times in suc- 

 cession the mother, after giving her answering call, " koo-wuk', koo- 

 wuk'," made a noise like a woman in hysteria.. She calmed down 

 Avhen the young one stopped its noise, and with a grating, purring 

 noise floated down to the ground and resumed scratching. 



The young one when found on August 11, 1900, was probably about 

 two days old. It had down on the crown and upper back, the rest of 

 it being bare, showing the whole of the skin to be of a bluish-drab 

 color. The abdomen was an abnormal size and the vent large, char- 

 acteristics of all the young found. On September 11, on my ap- 

 proaching the nest, the young one jumped out, but was caught, when 

 it screeched and struggled violently, using its feet vigorously. It 



