LYRE-BIRD. 
webs and the apical portion of some of the feathers, the rust-colour taking the 
form of indentations on some of the outer feathers, the indentations are formed by 
the abrasion of some of the barbules on the barbs of the feathers. Eyes, hazel ; 
feet and legs black ; bare space round the eye bluish. Wing 295 mm. ; tail 460. 
Figured. Collected in Gippsland, Victoria, in July, 1886. 
Advlt fermle. Hinder crown, nape, sides of face, hind-neck, back, upper tail-coverts, 
and upper wing-coverts dusky-brown, the last tinged with bronze-brown ; outer 
aspect of the flight-quills rich walnut-brown ; tail bronze-brown, some of the 
feathers olive towards the base ; fore-head, cheeks and throat chestnut ; fore-neck, 
breast, 'abdomen, sides of the bod}^, and under wing-coverts dusky greyish-brown, 
paler on the lower-abdomen and more dusky on the thighs and sides of the vent ; 
under tail-coverts hazel-brown at the tips ; under-surface of flight-quills greyish- 
brown ; low'er aspect of the tail dark silvery-grey with rust-brown indentations on 
the inner-webs of some of the lateral feathers — ^the inner-webs of some of the middle 
feathers tinged only with the same colour. Eyes hazel ; feet and legs black ; 
bare space bluish. Wing 280 mm. ; tail 480. Collected at Dawson, Victoria, in 
December, 1898. 
Immature. Covered with long flufly down. 
Nest. A bulky structure, composed of longish sticks, lined with fine material and 
feathers ; side entrance. Placed mostly on ground, but of late years placed as 
liigh as thirty feet or more in trees. 
Eggs. Clutch one. Ground-colour hght stone to deep . brown, spotted and blotched 
with slate-grey and dull purple. 56 mm. ; by 41 to 47. 
Breeding-season. June to August or Sej^ember. 
When Latham was printing his Second Supplement to his General Synopsis 
of Birds this extraordinary species came under his observation, and he 
immediately had a plate prepared, which is dated “ Pubhshed as the Act 
directs. May 30, 1801,” and a full description drawn up of his genus 
Menura^ Superb Menura being given as the vernacular name. The plate 
and pages bearing the description are inserted into the Gallinaceous order, 
which had already been printed off, as the plate is lettered “ PI. cxxxvi.*,” 
the genus “lhi*” and the pages “271* and 272*,” the latter signed “Mm5.” 
It however comes in the ordinary place in the Supplemeniium, where 
the species is named “ M. n. hollandicef’ the vernacular “ New Holland 
Menura ” being given instead of “ Superb Menura ” as printed at the place 
cited. 
I have given these details as simultaneously it was described by Davies 
as Menura superha, the paper being read in 1800 but not pubhshed until 
1802, when also it was included in the Naturalists'’ Miscellany under the 
name Paradisea parkinsoniana. 
Latham knew of filve specimens having arrived in England at the time 
he wrote, and according to Collins the first specimen was procured on the 
banks of the Nepean River on the 24th January, 1798, Davies’ figure is 
397 
