302 THE LYRE BIRD. 
account of its peculiar cry, would, if it had been known to the ancients, 
have been consecrated to Apollo, its lyre-shaped tail and flexible voice giving 
it a double claim to such honours. The extraordinary tail of this bird is 
often upwards of two feet in length, and consists of sixteen feathers, formed 
and arranged in a very curious and graceful manner. The two outer feathers 
are broadly webbed, and, as may be seen in the illustration, are curved ina 
manner that gives to the widely-spread tail the appearance of an ancient 
lyre. When the tail is merely held erect and not spread, the two lyre-shaped 
feathers cross each other, and produce an entirely different outline. The two 
central tail-feathers are narrowly webbed, and all the others are modified 
with long slender shafts, bearded by alternate feathery filaments, and well 
representing the strings of the lyre. 
The tail is seen in its greatest beauty between the months of June and 
September, after which time it is shed, to make its first reappearance in the 
ensuing February or March. The habits of this bird are very curious, and 
are so well and graphically related by Mr. Gould, that they must be given in 
his own words :— 
“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 Phillip on the southern coast; but further research. can only 
determine these points. It inhabits equally the bushes on the coast 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 
the 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 get 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 
traversed these rugged, hot, and suffocating bushes, can fully understand the. 
anxious labour attendant on the pursuit of the Menura. 
“ At Illawarra it is sometimes successfully pursued by dogs trained to rush 
suddenly upon it, when it immediatey leaps upon the branch of a tree, 
and, its attention being attracted by the dog below barking, it is easily 
approached and shot. Another successful mode of procuring specimens is 
by wearing the tail of a full-plumaged male in the hat, keeping it constantly 
in motion, and concealing the person among the bushes, when, the attention 
of the bird being arrested by the apparent intrusion of another of its own 
sex, it will be attracted within the range of the gun. If the bird be hidden 
from view by surrounding objects, any unusual sound, such as a shrill 
whistle, will generally induce him to show himself for an instant, by causing 
him to leap with a gay and sprightly air upon some neighbouring branch to 
ascertain the cause of the disturbance; advantage must be taken of this 
cu euetanie immediately, or the next moment it may be half-way down the 
gully. : 
“The Menura seldom, if ever, attempts to escape by flight, but easily 
eludes pursuit by its extraordinary powers of running. None are so efficient 
