LYRE-BIRD. 
making the nest very hard to see. When the hen is on the nest her tail 
comes right over her back and lies along parallel with her. Earher I 
mentioned how nature was helpmg to protect this bird and how evolution 
was working. These birds suffer from many enemies near the gromid, 
such as cats and foxes^ as their nests are so low. In the last two or 
three years many nests have been found higher up in trees, so that they 
are getting out of reach of dogs and foxes. I have seen a photo of a 
nest twelve feet above the ground.” 
I have reframed from further quotations from Gould, Campbell and 
North, as such would not give any more complete information than I 
have put forward, but I refer my readers to these writers who have given 
very good accounts, and which may be read with interest. 
I have not differentiated the Victorian form specifically, and here 
quote Gould’s remarks upon the matter : “ Those ornithologists who have 
examined specimens of the Menuroe from the neighbourhood of Melbourne 
must have noticed a great difference in the structure of their tails from 
this lyre-shaped organ in examples from New South Wales. Although 
on slender grounds, I admit, I have been induced to consider the Port 
Phihp bird to be a distinct species ; I say slender grounds, because I 
have not seen a sufficient number of specimens from that locahty to 
enable me to say positively that it is really different. . . . The chief 
difference of the bird I have named M. victorice is the diminished length 
of its outer tail-feathers, and their much stronger and broader markings.” 
In 1901 Campbell wrote : “ Certainly these seem slender grounds (as 
Gould himself admitted) for separating the two species. But since that 
great naturahst’s day, no ornithologist has been bold enough to say they 
are not distinct. However, it would be highly interesting to learn where 
the two species insulate or what tract of country divides the one kind 
of bird from the other.” 
I took the “ bold ” course in 1912, reducing the Victoria bird to the 
rank of a subspecies only, and in 1916 distinguished the form inhabiting 
Southern New South Wales as an intermediate race, having a shorter tail 
than the typical form, but not so pronounced as in the Victorian sub- 
species. 
Three subspecies may be separated: 
Menura novcehollandice novcehollandice Latham, North New South Wales. 
Menura Twvcehollandice intermedea Mathews, Southern New South Wales. 
Menura novcehollandice victorice Gould, Victoria. 
407 
