THE SPINE-TAILS. Ill 



THE FIRST FAMILY OF THE MESOMYODI, OR SOXGLESS BIRDS. 

 THE LYRE BIRDS (Mt-mmdce}. 



These curious and interesting birds are found only in Australia, of which they are one of the most 

 characteristic birds. Of the habits of the Prince Albert's Lyre-bird (Menura alberti} an excellent 

 account is given in Mr. Gould's " Handbook to the Birds of Australia, " from the pen of Mr. A. A. 

 Leycester, portions of which are here transcribed : " The habits of Menura alberti are very similar to 

 M. superba. Having seen and watched both on their play-grounds, I find the M. alberti is far 

 superior in its powers of mocking and imitating the cries and songs of others of the feathered race to 

 the M. superba ; its own peculiar song or cry is also different, being of a much louder and fuller tone. 

 I once listened to one of these birds that had taken up its quarters within two hundred yards of a 

 sawyer's hut, and he had made himself perfect in all the noises of the sawyer's homestead, the 

 crowing of the cocks, the cackling of the hens, and the barking and the howling of the dogs, and even 

 the painful screeching or the sharpening and filing of the saws. I have never seen, more than a pair 

 together. Each bird appears to have its own walk or boundary, and never to infringe 011 the others' 

 grounds ; for I have heard them day after day in the same place, and seldom nearer than a quarter of 

 a mile to each other. Whilst singing, they spread their tails over their heads like a Peacock, and 

 droop their wings to the ground, and at the same time scratch and peck up the earth. They sing 

 mornings and evenings, and more so in winter than at any other time. The young cocks do not sing 

 until they get their full tails, which I fancy is not until the fourth year, having shot them in four 

 different stages ; the two centre curved feathers are the last to make their appearance. They live 

 entirely upon small insects, principally beetles. Their flesh is not eatable, being dark, dry, and tough, 

 and quite unlike that of other birds. They commence building their nests in May, lay in June, and 

 have young in July. They generally place their nests on the side of some steep rock, where there is 

 sufficient room to form a lodgment, so that no animals or vermin can approach. The nest is 

 constructed of small sticks, interwoven with moss and fibres of roots, the inside being lined with the 

 skeleton leaf of the parasitical tree fern, resembling horsehair, and covered in, with the entrance on the 

 side. The single egg laid is of a very dark colour, appearing as if it had been blotched over with ink. 

 The young bird for the first month is covered with down, and remains in the nest about six weeks 

 before it takes its departure." 



THE SECOND FAMILY OF THE MESOMYODI, OR SOXGLESS BIRDS. 



THE BUSH-WREXS (Pteroptoehidte). 



This is a small family of birds belonging to South America, and numbering about eight genera 

 and about seventeen species. They are remarkable for their enormous feet, with very distinctly 

 scaled tarsi. Mr. Darwin writes of Pteroptoclius rubecula in the " Voyage of the Beagle " : " In 

 Chiloe, where it is common, it is called by the Indian inhabitants the ' Cheucau.' It frequents the 

 most gloomy and retired spots within the damp forests. Sometimes, although the cry of the Cheucau 

 is heard close by, a person may watch attentively and yet in vain ; at other times, if he stands 

 motionless, the red-breasted little bird will approach within a few feet in the most familiar manner. 

 It then busily hops about the entangled mass of rotting canes and branches, with its little tail cocked 

 upwards. I opened the gizzard of several specimens ; it was very muscular, and contained hard 

 seeds, buds of plants, occasionally some insects and vegetable fibres mixed with small stones. The 

 Cheucau is held in superstitious fear by the Chilotans, on account of its strange and varied cries. 

 There are three very distinct kinds one is called ' chiduco,' and is an omen of good ; another 

 ' huitrew,' which is extremely unfavourable ; and a third which I have forgotten. These words are 

 given in imitation of its cries, and the natives are in some things absolutely governed by them. I 

 was informed by the inhabitants that the Cheucau builds its nests amongst sticks close to the ground." 



THE THIRD FAMILY OF THE MESOMYODI, OR SOXGLESS BIRDS. 

 THE SPINE-TAILS (Dendrocolaptida). 



These birds resemble very much in appearance the Old World Tree Creepers, the majority of 

 them having, as their name implies, spiny tails like the birds alluded to. They also climb trees after 

 the manner of Creepers. The family is entirely Neotropical, and contains some two hundred and 



