278 LYRE PHEASANT. 



shops of the zoological collectors at Sydney, in 

 pairs, formerly at a cheap rate, as the birds then 

 abounded in the mountain ranges of the lUawarra 

 district ; but now that the bird, from its frequent 

 destruction, has become rare, these tails have 

 attained a price of from twenty to thirty shil- 

 lings the pair. About the ranges, however, 

 of the Tumat country, where they have been 

 seldom destroyed, they are seen more frequently ; 

 at this season of the year, (December,) it has its 

 young ; indeed this is the season that the young 

 of all the wild animals are produced in the 

 colony, and can consequently be procured with 

 facility. 



It is much to be regretted that human beings 

 are so eager to destroy, even to extermination, 

 the races of animals useful or dangerous, which 

 may be found in a new country. In the settled 

 parts of the colony, the harmless kangaroos and 

 emus are rarely seen, when they might easily 

 be domesticated about the habitations. The 

 same remark applies to the lyre pheasant. Why 

 are they not domesticated, before, by extermi- 

 nation, they are lost to us for ever ? 



The Lyre pheasant is a bird of heavy flight, 

 but swift of foot. On catching a glimpse of the 

 sportsman, it runs with rapidity ; aided by the 

 wings in getting over logs of wood, rocks, or 



