GENUS MENURA (Dairies). 



TWO species of this very remarkable genus inhabit Australia. Some naturalists, Goulcl among the 

 number, divide them into three, making a separate species of the one from Victoria, but the 

 differences observable scarcely warrant this division. 



MENURA SUPEUBA (Denies). 

 LYRE-BIRD. 



THIS bird, known in different parts of the country as Menura, Lyre-bird, Pheasant, Mocking-bird, 

 and by a variety of other names, inhabits New South Wales, Victoria, and some parts of Queensland 

 and South Australia. It is found only in dense brushes and deep rocky gullies and creeks, but on 

 account of its shyness it is very difficult to obtain a sight of it. 



It constructs little round hillocks, on which it dances about in the early morning or the 

 evening, when it also utters a loud and very musical whistle. It- also mocks all the other birds in 

 the forest, and even various sounds, such as those made in chopping or sawing wood. It imitates 

 especially well the notes of the Black Magpie and the Laughing Jackass. 



I once saw in Victoria, early in the morning, several females and young birds sitting round 

 whilst an old bird was dancing and singing. They all watched very attentively, and when he had 

 finished one of the young birds got up and attempted to imitate him, making a most ludicrous 

 spectacle. 



It feeds on the larger kinds of insects, obtained chiefly by scratching among the 

 fallen leaves. 



It never flies, but runs along, leaping over logs and boulders, at an extraordinary rate, so 

 that, even if an observer happens to be near, it has gone like a flash. 



The nest is placed generally on the ledge of an overhanging rock, in an almost inaccessible 

 position, but very often it is found on the top of a stump or in a hollow log. It is constructed 

 outwardly of sticks, inside of which fibrous roots and narrow strips of bark are interwoven, the whole 

 being warmly lined with feathers. Only one egg is laid, purplish-grey in colour, spotted with dark 

 brown. Its length is two and a half inches, and its breadth one and five-eighths inch. 



The general plumage is bluish-brown; the wing feathers, rufous-brown; upper tail coverts 

 tinged with rufous ; chin and front of the throat, dark red ; space round the eye, dark blue ; the 

 inner webs of the two outer tail-feathers are rufous ; to this a margin of bluish-grey succeeds ; then a 

 line of white, the outer webs and tips being dark brown ; irides, dark brown ; bill, legs, and feet, black. 



The female is more greyish in colour, and is destitute of the lyre-shaped tail. 



Habitats : New South Wales, Victoria, and parts of South Australia and Queensland. 



