6 DIVISION I. VERTEBRAL ANIMALS.—CLASS II. AVES. 
We will here include a family not mentioned by Lilljeborg, viz., the 
Menuridx. 
Famity Menurtom. Tue Lyre Brrps. 
We are indebted to the writings of Mr. Gould, the eminent British nat- 
uralist, for the following very complete account of these birds : — 
“In the structure of its feet, in its lengthened claws, and in its whole 
contour, the Lyre Bird presents the greatest similarity to the Pteroptochos 
megapodius of Wittlitz ; another singular circumstance, by which their alli- 
ance is rendered still more evident, is the fact that Pleroptochos differs from 
the other families of the Insessorial order in having fourteen feathers in. its 
tail, and that Menure also differs in the same particular in possessing six- 
teen. The immense feet and claws of these two birds admirably adapt them 
for the peculiar localities they are destined to inhabit, and the same beau- 
tiful modification of structure is observable in the other genera, equally 
adapting them for the situations they are intended to fulfil. Thus the Me- 
nura passes with ease over the loose stones and the sides of rocky gullies and 
ravines, while the Ma/urt trip over the more open and even ground, and 
the Dusyornt, with equal facility, thread the dense shrubs and reed-beds. 
“The great stronghold of the Lyre Bird is the colony of New South 
Wales, and from what I could learn, its range does not extend so far to the 
eastward as Moreton Bay; neither have I been able to trace it to the west- 
ward of Port Philip, on the southern coast 3 but further research can alone 
determine these points. It inhabits equally the bushes on the east, and 
those that clothe the sides of the mountains in the interior: on the coast it 
is especially abundant at the Western Port and Illawarra; in the interior, 
the cedar brushes of the Liverpool range, and according to Mr. G. Bennett, 
the mountains of the Tumat country are among the places of which it is 
a denizen. 
“Of all the birds I have ever met with, the Menura is far the most shy 
and difficult to procure. While among the mountains I have been sur- 
rounded by these birds, pouring forth their loud and liquid calls for days 
together, without being able to vet a sight of them; and it was only by the 
most determined perseverance and extreme caution that I was enabled to 
effect this desirable object, which was rendered more difficult by their 
often frequenting the almost 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, is sufficient to alarm it; and none but those who have tray- 
ersed these rugged, hot, and suffocating brushes, can fully understand the 
excessive labor attendant on the pursuit of the Menura. Independently of 
climbing over rocks and fallen trunks of trees, the sportsman has to creep 
