286 Birds. 
turbance : immediate advantage must be taken of this 
circumstance, 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 peculiar nature of the country, and 
the habits of the bird. The Menura seldom, if ever, 
attempts to escape by flying ; it easily eludes pursuit by 
its extraordinary power of running. None are so efficient 
in obtaining specimens as the naked black, whose noise- 
less and gliding steps enable him to steal upon it unheard 
and unperceived, and with the 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 performing 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 instance ; 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 em- 
ployed they carried the tail horizontally, as they always 
do when running quickly through the bush, that being 
the only position in which this great organ could be 
conveniently borne at such times. Among its many 
curious habits, the only one at all approaching to those 
of the Gallinaccea, is that of forming small round hillocks, 
which are constantly visited during the day, and upon 
which the male is constantly trampling, at the same 
time erecting and spreading out his tail in the most 
graceful manner, and uttering his various cries, some- 
times pouring forth his natural notes, at others mock- 
ing those of other birds, and even the howling of the 
native dog, or dingo. The early morning and the 
