An Australian 
Wonder. 
(53) THE BIRD WORLD. 
An Australian Wonder, 
THE LYRE BIRD. 
By A. J. CAMPBELL. 
Lyre Birds are amongst the most re¬ 
markable of feathered creatures, and so 
unique that they have been assigned the 
status of a distinct family—Menuridae. 
There are three species, all inhabiting 
the most densely-timbered parts of 
Eastern Australia. Queen Victoria’s 
Lyre Bird (Menura Victoria) roams 
-through the wooded wilds of Eastern 
Victoria. M. superba, the first species 
discovered, is confined to New South 
Wales, while Prince Albert’s Lyre Bird 
(M. Alberti) is peculiar to the luxuriant 
-tropical scrubs of the northern parts of 
New South Wales and Southern Queens¬ 
land. The two first-mentioned birds 
are closely allied, if not identical, but 
the northern bird is a distinct species, 
the male being destitute of the two lyre¬ 
shaped feathers in the tail. 
Its Call Note. 
My experience has been mostly with 
the Victorian species, and what I men¬ 
tion in connection with its life history 
will apply equally to the other two 
birds. The Victorian Lyre Bird was 
known to the aboriginals as “ Buln- 
Buln,” or “ Beleck-Beleck.” Buln- 
Buln, sounded loudly, resembles the 
ordinary double call-notes of the bird. 
I say ordinary notes, because its extra¬ 
ordinary notes prove it to be the most 
accomplished of mimics and a wonder¬ 
ful vocalist. These wonderful powers 
belong to the male only. The Lyre 
Bird somewhat resembles a lanky 
domestic fowl, wearing a general 
blackish-brown plumage, with bill, 
strong legs, and immense claws, black, 
to match. The eyes are dark brown. 
The male is adorned with a tail about 
thirty inches in length, chiefly composed 
of loose filament-like feathers, which, 
when viewed from behind or beneath, 
have a beautiful silvered appearance. It 
is also conspicuously ornamented with a 
pair of broad feathers, ribbed with 
chestnut, and taking together the shape 
of a lyre, hence the not inappropriate 
name of Lyre Bird, given by 
Australians. Draughtsmen and others, 
when figuring the bird, frequently make 
the beauty of the tail to appear in front, 
as in a Peacock’s. This is a mistake. 
The food of the Lyre Bird consists 
chiefly of beetles, centipedes, scorpions, 
worms, land crabs, and snails, and 
occasionally something more solid, in 
the shape of bush mice. 
Adventures in Its Home. 
My first adventures amongst Lyre 
Birds were somewhat rough, if not 
romantic. They were experienced in 
that grand country Buln Buln, named 
after the bird. Towards the end of sum¬ 
mer over twenty years ago, before it was 
devastated by the selector's axe, I 
visited the virgin forest country of 
Neerim, about twenty miles northward 
of what is now the Warragul district, 
cr the Brandy Creek of old coaching 
days. I wondered how the soil, rich 
and well watered though it was, could 
sustain such a wealth of vegetation—a 
threefold forest, I may describe it—first, 
thickly-studded fern trees, adorned with 
parasitical creepers, forming fairy-like 
bowers, carpeted with velvety moss, 
figured with ferns; second, trees of 
medium stature, such as sassafras, with 
its aromatic bark, fragrant musk trees, 
