The Lyre-Bird of Australia. 285 
liquid calls, for days together, without being able to get 
a sight of them ; and it was only by the most determined 
perseverance and extreme caution that I was enabled to 
effect this desirable object ; which was rendered the more 
difficult by their often frequenting the almost inaccessible 
and precipitous sides of gullies and ravines, covered with 
tangled masses of creepers, and umbrageous trees : the 
cracking of a stick, the rolling down of a small stone, or 
any other noise, however slight, is sufficient to alarm it ; 
and none but those who have traversed these rugged, hot, 
and suffocating brushes, can fully understand the exces- 
sive labour attendant on the pursuit of the Menura. In- 
dependently of climbing over rocks and fallen trunks of 
trees, the sportsman has to creep and crawl beneath and 
among the branches with the utmost caution, taking care 
only to advance when the bird's attention is occupied in 
singing, or in scratching up the leaves in search of food : 
to watch its actions, it is necessary to remain perfectly 
motionless, not venturing to move even in the slightest 
degree, or it vanishes from sight, as if by magic. Al- 
though I have said thus much on the cautiousness of the 
Menura, it is not always so alert: in some of the more 
accessible brushes through which roads have been cut, it 
may frequently be seen, and even on horseback closely 
approached, the bird apparently evincing less fear of those 
animals than of man. At Illawarra it is sometimes suc- 
cessfully pursued by dogs trained to rush suddenty upon 
it, when it immediately leaps upon the branch of a tree, 
and its attention being attracted by the dog which stands 
barking below, it is easily approached and shot. Another 
successful mode of procuring specimens is, by wearing a 
tail of a full-plumaged male in the hat, keeping it con- 
stantly in 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 dis- 
