16 Bird Day Book 



THE LYRE-BIRDS. 



+&♦- 



1* HREE species are known, all belonging to the genus Menura 

 and all confined to South Australia. They are large birds, 

 about two and a half or three feet long, with rather long neck 

 and large head, the bill being elongated, conical, and sharp-pointed. 

 The wings are rather short and rounded and contain twenty-one 

 quills, while the legs and feet are very strong, with long and nearly 

 straight claws. In the female and immature male the tail, although 

 long, presents no very familiar features, but in the adult male of 

 two of the species it has an extraordinary development and shape. 

 It consists of sixteen feathers, the two outer feathers being slightly 

 curved outward, then inward, and again outward abruptly near the 

 tips, thus producing a lyre-like form, and further each of these 

 feathers has the outer web very narrow and the inner web very 

 broad. The inner pair of feathers is nearly as peculiar, being 

 without a web on the outside and with a very narrow one on the 

 inside, while they cross each other near the base and bend for- 

 ward near the tips. The remaining tail feathers are beset with 

 long, flowing, hair-like barbs about a fourth of an inch apart, these 

 being without barbules. In the other species, known as Prince 

 Albert's Lyre-bird, the tail is very different, not being lyreform, in 

 fact has the outer feathers shorter than the others. The plumage 

 of all is sooty brown above and brownish-ash-color below, with 

 more or less rufous on the chin, wings and throat. 



The systematic position of the Lyre-Bird has been much dis- 

 cussed. It was first regarded as a Pheasant, later as a Bird-of- 

 Paradise, and finally has come to be considered as without any 

 very close affinities, although in the same respect showing charac- 

 ters intermediate between the Woodpeckers and other passerine 

 groups. The first and best known species is the Lyre-Bird par 

 excellence of New South Wales and southern Queensland. It is 

 found alike in the "scrub" along the coast and along the mountain 

 sides in the interior, usually being exceedingly shy at all times and 

 under all conditions. On this point Gould says: "While among 

 the brushes I have been surrounded by these birds, pouring forth 

 Ttheir loud and liquid calls, for days together, without being able 



