LYRE-BIRD. 
mountain -top to the bottom of the gullies, whose steep and rugged sides 
present no obstacle to its long legs and powerful muscular thighs ; it is also 
capable of performmg extraordhiary leaps, and I have heard it stated that 
it will spring to a ledge of a rock or a branch of a tree ten feet perpendicularly 
from the ground. It appears to be of sohtary habits, as I have never seen 
more than a pair together, and these only in a single instance ; they were 
both males, and were chasing each other round and round with extreme 
rapidity, apparently in play, pausing every now and then to utter their 
loud, shrill calls ; while thus employed they carried the tail horizontally, as 
they always do when running quickly through the brushes, this being the 
only position in which it could be conveniently borne. Among its many 
curious habits is that of forming small round hillocks, which are constantly 
visited during the day, and upon which the male is continually tramping, at 
the same time erectmg and spreading out his tail in the most graceful manner, 
and uttering his various cries, sometimes pouring forth his natural notes, 
at others mocking those of other birds, and even the howling of the dingo. 
The early morning and the evening are the periods when it is most animated 
and active. It may be truly said that all the beauty of this bird lies in the 
plumage of his tail, the new feathers of which appear in February or March, 
but do not attain their full beauty and perfection until J une ; durhig this 
and the four succeeding months it is in its finest state ; after this the feathers 
are gradually shed, to be resumed again at the period above stated. I am 
led to beheve that they are aU assumed simultaneously by the fact of a native 
having brought to my camp a specimen with a tail not more than six inches 
long, the feathers of which were in embryo, and aU of the same length. 
Upon reference to my journal I find the following notes upon the subject : 
' Mar. 14, Liverpool Range. Several Menuras killed to-day ; their tails not 
as fine as they will be.’ ‘ Oct. 25. I find this bird is now losing its tail- 
feathers ; and, judging from appearances, they will be aU shed in a 
fortnight.’ ” 
Dr. E. Brooke Nicholls, under the title of “ A Trip to the Bass Valley ” 
in the Victorian Naturalist, Vol. XXVIII., p. 152, Dec. 7, I9II, has given a 
fine accomit of the vocal quahties of the Victorian form, which I reproduce : 
The call-notes of the Butcher-Birds in this gully were wonderful bbtih in 
number and variety. The whole valley seemed to resomid with them and 
we heard the calls of many other birds we did not see. They followed one 
another in quick succession — the Harmonious Thrush, Wattle-birds, Pennant’s 
Parakeet, Grey Magpies, and others. We were on the look-out for the 
Lyre-Bird, but had not seen it or heard its call. Then, in a flash, we reahsed 
we had been Hstening to the bird for some minutes. The rapid succession 
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