Sydney Porter—Notes from Australia 317


for his song suddenly stopped and I heard him slip quietly into the

undergrowth.


For a long time I once listened to a male bird exercising his vocal

talents ; he w^as singing his own song but it seemed to remind me of

some other song. I tried for a long time to remember, then it suddenly

dawned on me—it was the soft, sweet, pleasing chortle of another

Australian bird, but from a district which was the very antithesis from

that in which I was in, the Queen Alexandra Parrakeet ; but the song

was much richer and deeper. I have never heard the “ song ” of this

Parrakeet mentioned because I suppose no one imagines a Parrakeet

has a song, but this one has. I have a male bird which will sit with

his head in a corner and sing for often half an hour at a time, and quite

a pleasant song it is.


To get back to the Lyrebird, the future of this bird is quite bright,

for perhaps no bird in the world is more rigidly protected than this

one. No one (with rare exceptions) outside a skin collector would

dream of killing one, and even a collector would have to have a great

deal of moral courage to do such a thing, for I’m sure that if he were

found out (in Victoria at least) he would be very severely dealt with.


An odd egg collector may upon rare occasions take an egg, which is

really a serious thing as the bird only lays one egg and that not every

year. It is illegal to own a Lyrebird’s egg or feathers in Australia.


No Zoos in Australia are allowed to keep these birds, and there is

as much chance of anyone getting permission to export one as there

would be for him to ask the British Government for the loan of the

Crown Jewels, unless the applicant was a foreigner.


There was a sinister rumour that at a certain holiday guest house

in the Sherbrook Forest where these birds are common they were

served up at times under the nom de plume of “ Pheasant ” ; inquiries

were made and since then “ Pheasant ” has not appeared again on the

menu. I think if it were proved to be true the proprietor would be

nearly lynched.


In pre-settlement days the birds had few or no enemies, as evinced

by its slow reproductive activities, but now its chief enemy is the

European fox which has spread into the districts where the bird is found.

It is said that owing to this the bird is now building its nest higher up



