102 Cook, Notes on the Lyre-Bird: [2nd Oct 



Concerning the mimicry of the Lyre-Bird, I find it necessary to 

 modify some things I have said and written. Until about two 

 years ago it liad always appeared to me that they did not 

 ])romiscuously imitate the extraneous sounds around them, but, 

 instead, learned their repertoire from their parents. The ground 

 for this belief was based on the fact that the present-day birds 

 still reproduce the calls of those that have for fifteen years left 

 the district, and fail to favour us with the calls of the new arrivals, 

 such as the Starling and Whistling Eagle. Then, again, though 

 I have been always within hearing of the call of these birds for 

 over thirty years, only twice have they reproduced the sounds 

 of any other than the calls of certain birds when I have been 

 listening to them. On the well-remembered occasion when the 

 male bird first demonstrated to me his power to improvise, 

 Messrs. C. L. Barrett and G. Findlay were also present, and that 

 day his whole performance was entirely different from anything 

 I had previously heard from any Lyre-Bird. He commenced by 

 reproducing the bark of a cattle-dog and its owner whistling him 

 up ; this was repeated again and again, sometimes quite distinctly, 

 then dying away as though faint with distance. His power of 

 modulation was superb. Then he gave us the squealing that 

 half-grown foxes indulge in when playing together, and many 

 other unusual sounds. 



I find that when the chick is a few weeks old the hen docs not 

 stay in the nest at night, but. instead, roosts in the tree-tops 

 close by. 



Although the male always has several hens attached to him, 

 it is quite open to doubt if they all lay, and my opinion is that 

 they do not, and much evidence has come my way in suj^port of 

 this theory. 



It is not uncommon in this part of the country to hear the 

 Starling imitate the Lyre-Bird and his selections. This fact has 

 been often remarked by my friends. 



I would like to show the members a bit of the work of Mr. 

 Chandler, who had considerable success in photographing the birds 

 in my company in Poowong. There was one hen that had been 

 photographed dozens of times, and was very tame, and when her 

 chick was in her nest would always follow me through the scrub. 

 I chanced to notice that whenever she lost sight of me she 

 would spring up on to the nearest stuni]) or bough to enable her 

 to watch my movements better. It occurred to me to turn this 

 habit to account ; so when Mr. Chandler arrived I induced him to 

 focus his lens on a pretty bush pedestal covered with drooping 

 staghorns and lichens at the best distance to secure a perfect 

 photograph, if the bird should sit on it. To Mr. Chandler the 

 chance seemed very remote, as I had told him nothing of my 

 observations. When all was ready, and Mr. Chandler well 

 concealed, with the pressure bulb in his hand, I proceeded to the 

 nest and caused the chick to squawk. The mother instantly 

 appeared then, and followed me at a little distance. When she 



