vii ATRICHORNITHIDAE 493 



Lyre-birds haunt precipitous sandy gullies in thick forests 

 with tangled undergrowth, whether inland or near the coast ; 

 and, though able to fly, live chiefly upon the ground, whence they 

 leap, when scared, to branches even ten feet high. They run 

 with the tail horizontal, and scratch among fallen leaves for insects 

 especially coleoptera myriapods, worms, and molluscs ; the 

 solitary individuals or pairs which are usually observed being 

 particularly shy. Each cock has a walk or playground, and scrapes 

 little hillocks or hollows for dancing places, where he struts or 

 pirouettes with erect tail and drooping wings, scratching, pecking, 

 and singing at intervals. Apparently, however, he is not poly- 

 gamous. The normal cry is a loud, liquid, gurgling sound ; but the 

 "Pheasants," as the Colonists term them, are clever mockers, imitat- 

 ing a cock's crow, a hen's cackle, a dog's bark or howl, the Laughing 

 Jackass's note, or even the setting of a saw. The tail-feathers are 

 said to be shed after breeding, and to be fully developed only by the 

 fourth year, when males begin to sing. The oval, domed nests, 

 placed on ledges of cliffs, on tops of old stumps, in forks of trees, or 

 by fallen logs, are loose bulky masses of sticks, bark, grass, leaves, 

 ferns, and moss, lined with roots and the bird's feathers. The one 

 large egg has a stone-grey, brown, or dark purple ground-colour, 

 blotched, dotted, and streaked with purplish or blackish-brown. 

 The chicks are said to be covered with black down in M. victoriae, 

 white in M. allerti, and brownish in M. superba ; and to remain 

 six weeks in the nest. The hen sits with her tail curled side- 

 ways or forwards. The flesh is dark, tough, and unpalatable. 



Fam. II. Atrichornithidae. Atrichornis has a large bill ; 

 moderate scutellated metatarsi ; extremely short wings with eleven 

 primaries, the outer of which is very small, and some eight second- 

 aries ; and a long, broad, graduated tail with twelve rectrices. 

 The tongue is sagittate, the aftershaft rudimentary, and no down 

 is present on adults. A. clamosa of Western Australia, about 

 eight and a half inches in length, is brown above, barred with 

 dusky, and reddish-white below, with a black pectoral patch ; 

 A. rufescens of New South Wales has the lower parts like the 

 upper. The females appear to be unknown. These very shy 

 birds haunt dense scrub, or grassy and bushy tracts,. being very 

 difficult of observation ; they mimic the notes of other species 

 cleverly, and also utter a peculiar noisy cry. They scratch in 

 the ground, probably for insect-food. 



