

LYRE BIRD.— iVciium sviicrha. 



it ; and none but those who haA^e traversed these rugged, hot, and suffocating bushes, can 

 fully understand the anxious labour attendant on the pursuit of the Menura. 



Independently of climbing over rocks and fallen trunks of trees, the sportsman has to 

 creep and crawl beneath and among the branches with the utmost caution, taking care 

 only to advance while the bird's attention is occupied in singing, or in scratching up the 

 leaves in search of food : to M-atch its action it is necessary to remain perfectly motionless, 

 not venturing to move even in the slightest degree, or it vanishes from sight as if by 

 magic. Although I have said so much on the cautiousness of the Menura, it is not always 

 so alert ; in some of the more accessible bushes through which roads liave been cut, it 

 may frequently be seen, and on horseback even closely approached, the bird evincing less 

 fear of those animals than of man. 



At lUawarra it is sonietimes successfully pursued by dogs trained (o rush suddenly 

 upon it, when it immediately leaps upon the branch of a tree, and its attention being- 

 attracted by the dog below barking, it is easily ai)pr()aclied and shot. Another successful 

 mode of procuring specimens is by wearing the tail of a full-plumaged male in the hat, 

 keeping it constantly in motion, and concealing the person among the bushes, when, the 

 attention of the bird being arrested by the apparent intrusion of another of its own sex, it 



