

THE LYRE-BIRD. 193 



tinted plumage. The general color of the upper parts is a delicate bluish-gray, the throat 

 is white, and the abdomen and under parts are reddish-brown, wanning into rich chestnut on 

 the flanks. From the angle of the mouth a narrow black band passes towards the back of the 

 neck, enveloping the eye in its course and terminating suddenly before it reaches the shoulders. 

 The tail is black on the base and gray towards the tip, except the two outer tail-feathers, 

 which have each a black spot near the extremity. The shafts are also black. 



The Nuthatches are represented in America by five species, very much resembling those 

 of Europe. The White-bellied and the Red-bellied are the most common. 



The Wrens are represented by nine species, in as many genera. Some of them have 

 numerous varieties ; twenty -three are recognized. 



A large species called the CACTUS WREN is found in Mexico and California. Its system- 

 atic name is overpoweringly long for such a bird. 



The HOUSE WREN (Troglodytes cedon) is the most familiar species. This cheery little 

 bird is a welcome accompaniment to the country-house. Its remarkable cheerfulness and 

 industry, and its pleasant song, claim for it a hearty welcome in the orchard or garden. It 

 inhabits all the States, and is migratory. 



Belonging to another group are several very small American birds, called, respectively, 

 RUBY-CROWNED, GOLDEN-CRESTED, and CUVIER'S GOLDEN-CRESTED WREN. These birds are 

 not true Wrens. Though so very small, their golden and ruby crests render them very attract- 

 ive. The species differ from those of Europe. 



WRENS AND WARBLERS. 



WE now arrive at the family of the Wrens, in which group we find two birds so dissimilar 

 in outward appearance as apparently to belong to different orders, the one being the common 

 Wren of Europe, and the other the celebrated LYRE-BIRD of Australia. 



This bird, which also goes under the name of NATIVE PHEASANT among the colonists, 

 and is generally called BULLEN-BULLEN by the natives, on account of its peculiar cry, would, 

 if it had been known to the ancients, have been consecrated to Apollo, its lyre-shaped tail 

 and flexible voice giving it a double claim to such honors. The extraordinary tail of this bird 

 is often upwards of two feet in length, and consists of sixteen feathers, formed and arranged 

 in a very curious and graceful manner. The two outer feathers are broadly webbed, and, as 

 may be seen in the illustration, are curved in a manner that gives to the widely-spread tail the 

 appearance of an ancient lyre. When the tail is merely held erect and not spread, the two 

 lyre-shaped feathers cross each other, and produce an entirely different outline. The two 

 Central tail-feathers are narrowly webbed, and all the others are modified, with long slender 

 shafts, bearded by alternate feathery filaments, and well representing the strings of the lyre. 



The tail is seen in its greatest beauty between the months of June and September, after 

 which time it is shed, to make its first reappearance in the ensuing February or March. The 

 habits of this bird are very curious, and are so well and graphically related by Mr. Gould, 

 that they must be given in his own words : 



"The great stronghold of the Lyre-bird is the colony of New South Wales, and from 

 what I could learn, its range does not extend so far to the eastward as Moreton Bay, neither 

 have I been able to trace it to the westward of Port Phillip on the southern coast ; but further 

 research can only determine these points. It inhabits equally the bushes on the coast and 

 those that clothe the sides of the mountains in the interior. On the coast it is especially 

 abundant at the Western Port and Illawarra ; in the interior, the cedar brushes of the Liver- 

 pool range, and, according to Mr. G. Bennett, the mountains of the Tumat country, are among 

 the places of which it is the denizen. 



VOL. IL 25. 



