LYRE-BIRD. 
made by the engines of the heavy coal-laden trams as they puffed up a sharp 
incline just outside the Nyora railway yard, some four and a half miles distant 
from this valley. The other was a soft note slowly repeated, and might 
have represented the sound of a broad axe at work on a log. 
24. Two Magpies meeting in the air. This was a reproduction of 
loud notes uttered when two Magpies meet in collision in mid-air. 
25. Coachwhip Bird. 
Whilst hstening to this wonderful performance we caught sight of one 
of the birds. From the rapidity with which the calls were uttered, and the 
different directions in which they were commg, we concluded that there 
were two birds engaged in a rivalry of song. The bird we had seen discovered 
us, and, crossing the creek, it chmbed the slope we were on and came round the 
back of us to within ten yards. It was a female. The bird uttered not a 
note whilst we watched it, and all the time it was on the move the mimicry 
contmued. We then walked forward to catch a sight of the singer, and got 
to withhi twenty yards of the male bird when it broke cover. For a moment 
we saw the bird, and then it disappeared, and we had heard the last of the 
performance. We had been listening for forty minutes, and for half an hour 
of that time had been within twenty-five to thirty yards of the Lyre-Bird. 
Examhiing the ground, we found it scratched and turned in all directions. 
No dancing-mound was to be seen, so the entertainment was gone through 
whilst the birds, or at least the female, was feeding. Just as we were preparing 
to leave the spot, a series of shrill cries attracted us, and in a few seconds the 
male and female Lyre-Birds dashed past into the scrub. They were the 
pair we had been watching and passed so near that we stretched out our hands 
to capture them. We searched carefuUy for a nest, but without success. 
There are one or two points of interest in connection with the behaviour of 
the birds and the order in which the caU notes of the various birds followed 
one another. The female undoubtedly saw us, but apparently gave no warning 
or alarm note of any kind ; and she took no part whatever in the vocal 
performance. The imitations were not always rendered m the full sequence 
given in the list. Whilst both birds were undisturbed it was adhered to, 
call following call in unbroken succession. But when the female came over to 
us the song was interrupted by pauses and single imitations, those of the 
Butcher-Bird and the rising of the Parrot-flocks being often repeated. A new 
series always commenced with the second note of the Harmonious Thrush. 
The call of the Mopoke was given only twice. Sounds that were similar and 
bird calls pitched in the same key, or that harmonised, always followed one 
another. The two mechanical sounds were always kept together, as were 
the cries of the Whistling Eagle and Black Cockatoo. The notes of the smaller 
VOL. vn. 
401 
