On the Lyre Bird. 13 



found shells of more near a nest repaired for use tills season, 

 and the birds being observed to roost in families occa- 

 sionally, I am inclined to think that probably the hen may 

 lay a second egg, and then sit close, and thus remain undis- 

 covered. The eggs are as long as a large duck's egg, but 

 thicker. Colour a dappled black, like smooth unpolished 

 black marble, with greyish veins between the rounded black 

 clouding. The hen appears to desert her nest whenever 

 discovered. The young run on the ground, and hastily con- 

 ceal themselves at' the slightest alarm, very soon after leaving 

 the egg. At pairing season, in May and June, and early in 

 July "he male birds are very assiduous in calling the hens to 

 them, and may be heard chiefly early in the morning, and near 

 sun-down, uttering their harsh gutteral cry of Queeuk, queeuk, 

 accompanied by a loud clear whistling, reminding one of 

 some of the notes of the English black-bird. They are 

 expert mocking birds, and are often heard imitating the cries 

 of the birds and animals familiar to them,— such as cockatoos 

 of various kinds, pigeons, parrots, crows, magpies, &c. I 

 have heard one imitate the howl of a wild dog, and others 

 the sharpening of a saw, hammering, and other sounds made 

 by carpenters, a few clays after they had opportunity of hear- 

 ing such sounds for the first time. While engaged in mocking, 

 the bird is usually burrowing in loose soil (as our domestic 

 fowls do in ashes), and meanwhile gives vent to such a 

 strange variety of imitations, that I have fancied several 

 birds°must be joining in them, until I crept to the spot and 

 became a witness to its sport. Individual birds, or pairs, are 

 often in long possession exclusively of certain spots, and may 

 be identified by their proficiency in the imitation of particu- 

 lar sounds. They are difficult to approach to shoot during 

 the day, except where man is unknown to them, and are 

 scared by the slightest sound. Specimens are most easily 

 obtained by ascertaining (by the droppings beneath) the trees 

 upon which they usually roost,— usually a bushy blackwood or 

 wattle about twenty feet high, and shooting them at dusk or 

 in moonlight. They will then not unfrequentlys it stupidly 

 awaiting a second shot, if the shooter does not move till 

 he has brought down his second bird. They appear to live 

 chiefly upon worms, grubs, and the white roots of couch 

 grass, and some other plants and grasses growing in the loose 

 rich earth common to the scrubs. Their long claws are well 

 adapted for scraping these up. In places frequented by these 

 birds there are numerous smooth topped rounded hillocks, 



