MENURIDAE 



491 



gui," inhabit damp, gloomy forests; others often frequent dry 

 plains, or stony and bushy hill-sides, as H. megapodius, " El Turco," 

 and P. alUcollis, the " Tapaculo " ; while Scytalopus magellanicus 

 prefers thick woods, but also haunts grass-lands in the Falkland 

 Islands. Rhinocrypta lanceolata, the " Gallito," or Little Cock, 

 lives in thickets and hedges, and struts in the open like a Fowl. 

 The food, chiefly obtained upon the ground, consists of insects, 

 seeds, and buds. The noisy and generally harsh notes vary con- 

 siderably, Hylactes tarnii yelping like a dog, Pteroptochus alUeollis 

 sometimes uttering a sound like a coo, Triptorliinus paradoxus a 

 reiterated frog-like croak, Bhinocrypta lanceolata a hollow chirrup 

 or a scolding cry. The nest, commonly situated near the ground, 

 is said in some cases to be made of sticks ; Bhinocrypta forms a 

 domed structure of grass in a bush, and lays four eggs ; Scytalopus 

 magellanicus is recorded as using a mass of moss upon a bank to 

 contain its set of two ; Kylactes and Pteroptochus are reported to 

 nest in burrows. The eggs are white, at least in the first three. 



2. Passeees diacromyodae. 

 C. Suhoscines. 



This group contains only the two Families Menuridae (Lyre- 

 birds) and Atrichornithidae (Scrub-birds), each with one genus, 

 Menura and Atrichornis respectively. The former possesses three 

 pairs of vocal muscles, the latter only two pairs ; ^ Menura, more- 

 over, has a peculiarly long sternum, constricted towards the 

 middle, while Atrichornis has but rudimentary clavicles, being 

 thus unique among the Passerine forms. 



Fam. I. Menuridae. — Lyre-birds have a stout bill ; very long 

 and powerful metatarsi, with robust elongated straight claws; and 

 somewhat short rounded wings, with eleven primaries and ten 

 secondaries. The tail has sixteen rectrices, and in the males of 

 two species has the exterior pair of feathers curved like a lyre, 

 with very narrow outer and very broad inner webs ; the next 

 six pairs have very distant barbs and no barbules, except towards 

 the base ; while the two median plumes have narrow inner and 

 no outer webs, and after crossing below, curve boldly outwards. 

 The tongue is sagittate, the furcula U-shaped, the after-shaft 

 rudimentary; the adults have no down. M. superba of New South 

 Wales and South Queensland, some thirty-three inches long, is 

 ^ Some Oscines have as many as seven pairs, but Sphenocacus has only three. 



