The Lyre-Bird of Australia. 285 



liquid calls, for days together, without being able to get 

 a sight of them ; and it was only by the most determined 

 perseverance and extreme caution that I was enabled to 

 effect this desirable object ; which was rendered the more 

 difficult by their often frequenting the almost inaccessible 

 and precipitous sides of gullies and ravines, covered with 

 tangled masses of creepers, and umbrageous trees : the 

 cracking of a stick, the rolling down of a small stone, or 

 any other noise, however slight, is sufficient to alarm it ; 

 and none but those who have traversed these rugged, hot, 

 and suffocating brushes, can fully understand the exces- 

 sive labour attendant on the pursuit of the Menura. In- 

 dependently 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 when the bird's attention is occupied in 

 singing, or in scratching up the leaves in search of food : 

 to watch its actions, 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. Al- 

 though I have said thus much on the cautiousness of the 

 Menura, it is not always so alert : in some of the more 

 accessible brushes through which roads have been cut, it 

 may frequently be seen, and even on horseback closely 

 approached, the bird apparently evincing less fear of those 

 animals than of man. At Illawarra it is sometimes suc- 

 cessfully pursued by dogs trained to rush suddenly upon 

 it, when it immediately leaps upon the branch of a tree, 

 and its attention being attracted by the dog which stands 

 barking below, it is easily approached and shot. Another 

 successful mode of procuring specimens is, by wearing a 

 tail of a full-plumaged male in the hat, keeping it con- 

 stantly 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 

 will be attracted within the range of the gun: if the 

 bird be hidden from view by the surrounding objects, 

 any unusual sound, as a shrill whistle, will generally 

 induce him to show himself for an instant, by causing 

 him to leap with a gay and sprightly air upon some 

 neighbouring branch to ascertain the cause of the dis- 



