Lyre-birds 



641 



being lyriform, in fact has the outer feathers shorter than the others. The 

 plumage of all is sooty brown above and brownish ash-color below, with more 

 or less rufous on the chin, wings, and throat. 



The systematic position of the Lyre-bird has been much discussed. It was 

 first regarded as a Pheasant, later as a Bird-of-Paradise, and finally has come to 



FIG. 189. Common Lyre-bird, Menura superba. 



be considered as without any very close affinities, although in some respects 

 showing characters intermediate between the Woodpeckers and the other pas- 

 serine groups. The first and best-known species is the Lyre-bird par excellence 

 (M. superba) of New South Wales and southern Queensland. It is found alike 

 in the "scrub" along the coast and along the mountain sides in the interior, 

 usually being exceedingly shy at all times and under all conditions. On this 

 point Gould says: "While among the brushes I have been surrounded by these 

 birds, pouring forth their loud and liquid calls, for days together, without being 

 able to get a sight of them, this being rendered the more difficult by their often 

 frequenting the most 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, 



