AUSTRALIAN ZOOLOGY, 
periods when this bird is the most active. In the brushes it pours 
forth its loud and liquid calls, and although there may be several 
birds in a locality, a sportsman will fail to get even a sight of one of 
them for days together unless he exercises determined perseverance 
and extreme caution, He must advance only when the bird’s 
attention is occupied in singing, or in scratching up the leaves in 
search of food. ‘The black approaches it with noiseless and gliding 
steps, unseen and unheard ; when within range he shoots it—if 
supplied with a gun: or if not, he kills it wit his own weapons, 
The lyre-bird seldom, if ever, attempts to escape by flight, but 
eludes pursuit by running. It frequents the precipitous sides of 
gullies and ravines, covered with tangled masses of creepers and 
umbrageous trees ; also the deepest recesses of the fern gullies of 
the Dividing Range with the yellow-breasted robin, the satin bird 
and the bell bird as its neighbours. It is fond of traversing the 
trunks of fallen trees. It is of a wandering disposition, and although 
it probably keeps to the same brush, it is constantly engaged in 
passing over the locality from one end to the other. All the beauty 
of the Menura superba lies in the plumage of the tail of the male 
bird, the new feathers of which appear in February or March, but 
do not attain their full elegance and perfection till June ; for the 
four succeeding months the tail is in its finest state ; after this the 
feathers are shed, to be resumed at the period stated above. The 
natural notes of the lyre-bird are rich and varied. Its loud full call 
may be heard reverberating over the gullies to a distance of at least 
a quarter of a mile; it also possesses an inward and varied song, 
the lower notes of which can only be heard when one has approached 
within a few yards of the bird. Its notes, too, are heard more 
frequently than they are recognised, for it is a consummate mimic 
and ventriloquist. It imitates to perfection the notes of all other 
birds, the united voicing of a flock of parrakeets, the barking of 
dogs, the sawing of timber, and the clink of the woodman’s axe. 
Thus it is the Menura has earned for itself the title of the Australian 
mocking bird. Parrots and magpies are taught to speak; as a 
mimic the lyre-bird requires no teacher. In the early morning and 
in the afternoon the male birds can be heard mocking the magpies, 
laughing jackasses, and other birds; and if one is fortunate enough 
to see as well as to hear, he will note that each is dancing on a small 
mound scraped together and making a brave display of feathers. 
Nidification.—The nest differs according to the locality fre- 
quented by the birds, some being constructed of rough material, 
such as large sticks, stringy bark, and dead ferns; others of very 
fine rootlets, &c., which make a remarkably neat nest. In no 
instance has more than one egg or one young bird been met with in 
the same nest. The birds begin to build in May, and lay their eggs 
in June and July. The female is not fed by the male while she is 
sitting, nor has the male bird ever been observed near the place 
where she has laid her egg. The female frequently leaves her egg 
during the middle of the day to search for food. This may account 
for the length of time taken in the hatching, which sometimes 

