322 



-BIRDS.- 



great facility and scratches after the fashion of the true 

 Gallinse. So swift is it in its movements among the 

 brushes of New South Wales, to which colony it is pecu- 

 liar, that Mr. Gould declares it to be the most difficult 

 to procure of all the birds he ever met with. " While 

 among the brushes," says that distinguished ornitholo- 

 gist, " I have been surrounded by these birds, pouring 

 forth their loud and liquid calls, for days together; and 

 it was only by the most determined perseverance and 

 extreme caution, that I was enabled to effect this 

 desirable object." 



Besides the loud call alluded to by Mr. Gould in the 

 above extract, the Lyre-bird is found to possess a 

 sweet and varied song, which is incompatible with 

 gallinaceous nature. Its nest also is a neat structure, 

 composed of sticks, roots, and moss, and covered with 

 a dome-like roof; in this it lays usually two eggs, of a 



whitish colour, speckled with red. The food of the 

 bird consists of insects, especially in the larval state, 

 and, according to M. Verreaux, the larvae of a species 

 ef cockchafer constitute its favourite food. The same 

 ornithologist tells us, that when they quit their resting 

 places in search of food, the males are usually followed 

 by several females, although during the breeding 

 season they live in pairs, and he adds, that besides 

 their natural song, they imitate the notes of all other 

 birds so accurately, as to deceive not only the orni- 

 thologist, but even the birds themselves. 



A second species of the genus Menura was described 

 about ten years since by Mr. Gould, under the name 

 of Menura Alberti, PRINCE ALBERT'S LYRE-BIRD. It 

 has a less developed tail than the M. superba, and is 

 rather smaller in size, but agrees with it in its general 

 appearance and habits. 



TRIBE III. DENTIEOSTKES. 



THE birds forming this group of the passerine order are 

 distinguished from those of both the preceding and fol- 

 lowing tribes, by having a more or less distinct tooth on 

 each side of the upper mandible near the tip, which is 

 also usually more or less hooked. The bill itself is 

 sometimes slender and weak, sometimes stout and 

 powerful; the teeth are generally strongest in the latter 

 case, and some of these birds are as predaceous in their 

 habits as the smaller hawks. The feet are slender, but 



generally armed with curved and acute claws. The 

 number of species belonging to this group is very great, 

 and they are divided into five families. 



FAMILY I. SYLVIUS. 



We commence with this family as making the nearest 

 approach in its short slender bill to the Wrens with 

 which the last tribe was concluded. The sides of the 



Fig. 109. 



The Nightingale (Philomela lusc 



upper mandible are but slightly notched. The nostrils 

 are placed at the base of the bill in a groove, and are 

 uncovered. The birds have long wings and slender 

 tarsi and toes, terminated by claws of moderate length. 

 They are for the most part distinguished by a great 

 power of song, and the term Warblers has been applied 

 to the family. Their food consists almost entirely of 



insects and worms; and hence those species which inha- 

 bit cold and temperate climates are generally migratory. 

 THE NIGHTINGALE (Philomela ftwcinio) Fig. 109. 

 We cannot better commence our illustrations of this 

 family of vocalists than with the description of this bird, 

 which is universally, and perhaps with justice, regarded 

 as the most charming songster of our woods and groves. 



