BIRDS. 263 
motion, and concealing the person among the bushes, 
when the attention of the bird being arrested by the 
apparent intrusion of another of its own sex, it will be 
attracted within the range of the gun : if the bird be 
hidden from view by the surrounding objects, any unusual 
sound, as a shrill whistle, will generally induce him to 
show himself for an instant, by causing him to leap with 
a gay and sprightly air upon some neighbouring branch 
to ascertain the cause of the disturbance: advantage 
must be taken of this circumstance immediately, or the 
next moment it may be half-way down the gully. So 
totally different is the shooting of this bird to anything 
practised in Europe, that the most expert shot would 
have but little chance, until well experienced in the pecu- 
lior nature of the country, and the habits of the bird. 
The Menura seldom, if ever, attempts to escape by flight, 
but easily eludes pursuit by its extraordinary power of 
running. None are so efficient in obtaining specimens as 
the naked black, whose noiseless and gliding steps enable 
him to steal upon it unheard and unperceived, and with 
a gun in his hand, he rarely allows it to escape, and in 
many instances he will even kill it with his own weapons. 
" The Lyre-bird is of a wandering disposition, and 
although it probably keeps to the same brush, it is con- 
stantly engaged in traversing it from one end to the other, 
from mountain-top to the bottom of the gullies, whose 
steep and rugged sides present no obstacle to its long legs 
and powerful muscular thighs ; it is also capable of per- 
forming extraordinary leaps ; and I have heard it stated, 
that it will spring ten feet perpendicularly from the ground. 
It appears to be of solitary habits, as I have never seen 
more than a pair together, and these only in a single in- 
stance; they were both males, and were chasing each 
other round and round with extreme rapidity, apparently 
in play, pausing every now and then to utter their loud 
shrill calls : while thus employed they carried the tail 
