NOTES AND QUERIES. 113 
for in one or even two years, and that, giving credit for considerable advance 
towards maturity by change of colour between the moults, the male Kestrel 
would be more than three years old before attaining its fully adult plnmage. 
This, I think, is a considerably longer period than has generally been 
supposed, and, as my series is not complete, the gap between Nos. 4 and 6 
may represent another year.—Cerctr. Smiru (Bishops Lydeard, Taunton). 
The Australian Lyre-bird.—Having been stationed at intervals for 
some years on the mountains of Hastern Manaro, in the southern part of 
New South Wales, the habitat of the Lyre-bird or Native Pheasant (Menura 
superba or paradisea), I have thought some fuller particulars regarding its 
habits than are usually obtainable might be interesting to your readers. 
This range of mountains, the more sheltered sides of which form the home 
of those interesting birds, attains a height of over 4000 feet above sea-level. 
The sides, sloping towards the coast at a general angle of about 45°, are 
heavily timbered with eucalypti, wattle, and musk trees, and covered with a 
dense undergrowth of ferns and creepers, the gullies being filled with tree- 
ferns. Generally speaking, there is a noticeable absence of game, but at 
certain seasons the forest resounds with the varied cries of the male Lyre- 
bird. The hen builds her nest at the foot of a trunk of a tree, of twigs and 
bark, lining it with dried ferns and grass, and leaving an opening in the 
front of the top. Herein she deposits the one egg on which she sits 
(for, as an Irish friend said, ‘she only lays one egg ata time”), leaving 
the nest daily for food. The country here abounds in the hills of ants, 
from those of the large bull-dog ant, an inch long, to those of a small black 
variety, and it is upon these insects and their larve that the Lyre-bird 
chiefly subsists. The bird is of a sooty black colour, with a body somewhat 
larger than that of a pigeon, but has a tail of graceful form and beautifully 
marked. Ordinarily, this tail is simply carried behind like a peacock’s in 
repose, but if found upon their ‘‘ dancing beds,” with head erect and tail 
expanded over the back, they are decidedly handsome. These “ dancing 
beds” are patches of comparatively clear ground, from one to two yards in 
diameter, with the ferns trodden smoothly upon the surface, upon which 
the birds assemble, and dance and strut to their apparent great delight. 
The original cry or call of the Lyre-bird is a very simple one, but his 
adopted one partakes of that of every sound he hears; for he is a most 
wonderful inocker, not only of other birds, such as the parrot, cockatoo, 
yang-yang, or magpie, but he will imitate to the life the bullock-driver with 
his whip, the step of the teamster’s horses, the rasping of the cross-cut saw, 
and the blows of the axe and tomahawk; and, more wonderful still, more 
than one of these at the same time, so that the solitary explorer is led to 
believe he has suddenly come upon pioneers of civilisation in the heart of 
the forest. The male bird is exceedingly pugnacious, and this fact is made 
use of by the settlers to his destruction, for his tail is worth three dollars. 
ZOOLOGIS1.—MARCH, 1886. K 
