82 
POPULAE HISTORY OP BIRDS. 
tremulous motion of the tail/^ This naturalist particularizes 
a habit of the lyre-bird approaching one almost peculiar to 
the Gallinacea; it forms small round hillocks^ which it 
regularly visits during the day. On these the male is con- 
stantly trampling, while, at the same time, he erects and 
spreads out his noble tail, and utters various cries, a mix- 
ture of his natural notes and the sounds made by other birds, 
with the occasional mimicry of the howling of the dingo or 
Australian dog. 
The Menura is a difficult bird for the European sportsman 
to shoot, its mode of eluding pursuit being unlike that of any 
other bird. It seldom attempts to escape by flying, but runs 
off with great speed, carrying the tail horizontally. The 
aborigines, with their noiseless and gliding steps, steal on it 
as it feeds, without being perceived, and seldom allow one 
to escape. The bird is of a wandering disposition, and fre- 
quents gullies, which it traverses with ease, however steep 
and rugged, its long legs and strong muscular thighs re- 
sisting all obstacles ; such is the strength of the muscles of 
these thighs, that Mr. Gould has been told the bird can 
leap ten feet perpendicularly from the ground. Among the 
brushwood and on the slopes of the ground it frequents, it 
finds abundance of centipedes and beetles, on which it chiefly 
