THE BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA. 
of different calls from unseen birds forced the truth upon us. We concluded 
the Lyre-Birds were not more than 200 yards from us, and started to locate 
them. Stepping, slipping, and falling quietly down hill through the dense 
undergrowth, we got to within thirty yards of them. Then we seated ourselvea 
and listened to the most wonderful and beautiful series of bird notes it has 
been our good fortune to hear. For several minutes we sat in a spell of 
delight, and then, recovering, copied down on the spot the calls as they 
were imitated. And when we say imitated we mean more than the word 
conveys, for every note and sound was a perfect reproduction of the caU of 
the bird mimicked, and as Mr. Milligan declared, was rendered with more 
grace and finish than it would be by the origmal itself. 
The following is the list of calls, taken down at the time ; — 
1. Native Bear. 
2. Young Magpie being fed. 
3. Boobook Owl (deep, guttural, and a perfect imitation). 
4. White-throated Thickhead. 
5. 6 and 7. Three calls of the Harmonious Thrush — first, the single 
high-pitched alarm note ; second, the “ Choked, choked with a cherry ” 
call ; third, a second alarm call, consisting of several notes pitched in the 
same key. 
8. Starling. “ The indrawn whistle ” fikened by Mr. Milligan to the 
swish of a rocket. 
9. The Satm Bower-Bird. 
10. Butcher-Bird. 
11. Wattle-bird. 
12. Whistling Eagle. 
13. Black Cockatoo. 
14. Alarm notes of a fiock of startled Parrots. In mimicking these 
notes the fluttering and winnowing sounds of the wings of the rising birds 
were accurately represented. 
15. Pennant’s Parakeet. 
16. Magpie’s alarm note. 
17. Scrub-Wren. 
18. Acanthiza pusilla (scolding note). 
19. Laughing Jackass (the gurgling notes at the beginning of the 
laugh only). 
20. Strepera. 
21. Creaking of tree limbs moved by the wind. 
22 and 23. Mechanical sounds. The first, repeated rapidly, sounded 
like “ Choo, choo, choo, choo.” This we afterwards recognised as the sound 
f 
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