i83 AUSTRALIAN PICTURES. 



she is in comparison with her lord, has to be wooed and won. Then they 

 are the best of mocking-birds. They imitate with precision the notes of the 

 laughing jackass, the parrot, the solemn mopoke, and moreover they repro- 

 duce every sound made by man. Every splitter on the mountain-side has 

 his story of endeavouring in vain to discover the users of a cross-cut saw in 

 the neighbourhood, until he found that a ' pheasant ' was mocking him ; and 

 another favourite topic is the perplexity of the ' new chum ' settler, who 

 hears an invisible mate chopping wood on his allotment, with an invisible 

 but barking dog at his heels. The lyre-bird is slow of flight, and he would 

 have a poor chance of escape from the shot-gun were his haunt not in the 

 thick fern vegetation ; but this jungle protects him. The birds are not so 

 common as they once were in the ranges immediately about Melbourne, but 

 in the fastnesses of Gippsland they are met with in their old numbers. 



The satin or bower-bird is another of Australia's wonders. It not only 

 builds a 'bower,' but decorates the structure with the most gaily-coloured 

 articles that can be collected, such as the blue tail-feathers of the rose-bill 

 and Pennantian parrots, bleached bones, the shells of snails, &c. Some of 

 the feathers are stuck in among the twigs, while others, with the bones and 

 shells, are strewed about near the entrances. The propensity of these birds 

 to pick up and fly off with any attractive object is so well known to the 

 natives that they always search the runs for any small missing article, such 

 as the bowl of a pipe, that may have been accidentally dropped in the bush. 

 In the spotted bower-bird the approaches are decorated with shells, skulls, 

 and bones, especially those which have been bleached white by the sun ; and 

 as these birds feed almost entirely upon seeds and fruits, the shells and 

 bones cannot have been collected for any other purpose than ornament. 



Another bird peculiar to Australia is the * giant kingfisher,' or ' piping 

 crow,' or ' musical magpie,' or ' settler's clock,' or, to use the term everywhere 

 applied, ' the laughing jackass.' Its extraordinary note, and insane and yet 

 good-humoured prolonged and loud cachinnation is unique, and so is the 

 appearance of the bird. It is a great Australian favourite, is never shot, 

 and as a consequence is tolerant of man. It is called the 'settler's clock' in 

 the bush by virtue of its regular hilarious uproar at noon-tide and of its far- 

 heard ' salutation to the moon,' and it will equally make any city reserve 

 lively with its note. A dog-show was recently held in the Melbourne 

 Exhibition. Five hundred dogs naturally made themselves audible. But 

 above all the discord was heard the laugh of the giant kingfisher, intimating 

 that he had secured a golden perch from the pond, and was disposed to 

 rejoice accordingly. It is doubtful whether the laughing jackass destroys 

 snakes. His critics deny the assertion, which is made on his behalf. His 

 admirers cling to a belief which is wide-spread and has earned for the 

 jackass the immunity from destruction which he enjoys. 



.The largest game bird is the emu, but it is not pursued by sportsmen. 



