Sydney Porter—Notes from Australia 315



the most fleeting a glimpse of the bird itself. A flash of dark brown

and he is gone.


The first time I went on my quest to find the bird I had walked many

miles up the mountain sides and was resting on a log by the side of the

track in the dense forest, when suddenly, from quite near at hand,

I heard a burst of melody which I instantly knew must come from a

Lyrebird. The voice was of such depth, power, and richness that I was

held spellbound. First there was a song like that of a Thrush,

but the notes were far richer and of an amazing quality. Then followed

the songs of a dozen other birds, and being yet unacquainted with most

of the Australian bird songs I failed to recognize some of them, but

there was the creaking call of the Gang-gang, the “ whip ” of the Coach-

whip Bird, the “ laugh ” of the Kookaburra, the rich notes of the

Yellow Kobin and many others, for the Lyrebird is the greatest of all

bird mimics and these songs, added to his own repertoire of wonderful

melody, make this bird’s song unique. I looked round for the bird but

he was invisible, so I moved a little towards the sound but in a

second there was a movement, a flash of brown and the songster

had gone. He had been giving his concert on a fallen log some

yards away.


Later on I found the dancing mounds. These are in a clearing and

are heaps of bare earth about 2 feet high and perhaps 5 to 6 feet

across ; these the bird scratches up with his powerful feet and on them

the marvellous tail is displayed. The bird bends forward throwing the

widely spread tail over its head so that from the front only the under¬

side of the huge fan-like tail is seen completely hiding the body. The

upper side of the tail is dark brown and no doubt this is very necessary

from a protective point of view, but the underside is a silvery grey.

The wonderful lyre-like outer tail feathers, which are marked with rich

chestnut and have transparent patches on them, are held out sideways

like the outer supports of a fan, while the fine aigrette-like inner feathers

are quivered and give the impression of a lace-like silvery fan. While

the tail is held in this position the bird dances and also indulges in a

torrent of song. I never saw the actual display as it was not the time

for it, but I did see many photos of it and it is far more spectacular

than any display of a Bird of Paradise.



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