Sydney Porter—Notes from Australia



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up and at last got within 20 feet of him. That hour I watched

him I shall never forget. I remember every minute of it. His scratching

was totally unlike that of any other bird. He got great clawsful of

forest debris and flung them aside, sometimes he clutched large boughs

and fallen tree-fern trunks and dragged them away. He used his feet

in the same manner as one would use a hand. My companion told me

that the way these birds tear huge decaying trunks of the fallen forest

trees to pieces with their feet is nothing short of incredible. Quite

large holes are made that one would think were the work of rabbits.

The Lyrebird scratches with one foot at once and it does not scratch

in the accepted sense, but rather rakes over the mould, and any large

obstructions are firmly grasped and flung aside. The main food and

what I actually saw the birds eating, was a small crustacean of a brown

colour which greatly resembled a sand-hopper and which lives in

countless thousands just below the top of the loose forest soil. I also

noticed this particular bird eating an odd worm at times. The sight

of sights was when five birds came into view at once and indulged in

a kind of wild ecstatic dance, the kind of thing Pheasants occasionally

do in moments of uncontrolled exuberance. Before the male gets his

adult tail the feathers resemble a bunch of long ribbon-like plumes

curving towards the ground and held in an ill-assorted bunch. The outer

tail feathers which eventually give place to the Lyre-like feathers, are

noticeably patterned underneath. When the bird is digging or scratching

the tail is held at a high angle above the ground. The throat is coloured

like the breast of an English Robin and the eye is large and of a deep

liquid brown. The bird when not singing utters a series of loud calls

which sounds rather like the word “ Chop ” many times slowly

repeated.


The Lyrebird is about the size of a large Pheasant, but much slimmer

in build and is of a general rich earthy brown. The magnificent tail

of the fully adult male, which superficially resembles a lyre, is too com¬

plicated to describe fully and must be seen to be appreciated, there is

certainly nothing else like it in Nature. Stuffed birds in museums give

a very erroneous idea of what the living bird is like.


It is generally agreed that the Lyrebird is not related to another

type of bird and that it stands out on its own with habits quite unique

from any other feathered form.



