LYRE-BIRD 177 



Oscinine Passeres, or Oscines, which are distinguished 

 by having the voice-muscles inserted into the ends of 

 the windpipe. Strange to say, though all the birds 

 included in the second section should prove fine 

 songsters, only a few are really good performers. 

 Crows, for example, are deficient as singing birds, 

 yet they have the same voice-organ as the Nightingale. 

 But then, even in the human race, the voice-muscles 

 of those who are tuneless do not differ essentially from 

 those of the greatest singers. 



The curiously aberrant type known as the Lyre- 

 bird represents the first of the two sections just re- 

 ferred to. By most authorities this bird is placed 

 apart from the true Oscines, and made to form a sub- 

 group, or section, because its voice-muscles, though 

 resembling those of the "true Oscines," are not the 

 same in number; but for our purpose this distinction 

 may be ignored. The Lyre-bird is a native of 

 Australia. Three species are known, that which 

 forms the subject of our illustration being found in 

 New South Wales. See Plate 14, Fig. 73. 



These birds are remarkable for the peculiar form 

 of the tail, the two outer feathers of which are of great 

 length, and so curved as to form a general resemblance 

 to the old-fashioned musical instrument known as 

 the lyre — ^hence the name of the bird. The inner tail- 

 feathers have a peculiar structure, and a soft and 

 filmy appearance. 



One authority says: "These birds inhabit pre- 

 cipitous sandy gullies in thick forests with tangled 

 undergrowth. Each cock has a walk, or playground, 

 and scrapes little hillocks, or hollows, for dancing 



