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birds are rendered, the gliding of one bird's notes into those of another, and the rendering of two or more simultaneously are nothing short of marvelous. The male bird is much the better and more. powerful whistler, but the female is practically as good a mimic. I have no doubt that the lyre bird is a mocking bird, for, even supposing it to owe to heredity its faculty for imitating the birds of the forest, as has been suggested, it can have acquired the art of imitating sounds of human origin only since the settlement of the country in which it is found.

LYRE BIRDS IN CAPITIVITY.

It is generally supposed that these birds can not be reared and kept in captivity. Several attempts have, I believe, been made in the Zoological Gardens, Melbourne, but the birds have always died in a short time. There are several instances known, however, in which such attempts have been successful. The most notable one is that of a resident of the Woods Point district (Upper Goulburn), who, so Mr. O. A. L. Whitelaw tells me, reared several of these birds, which fed with the fowls and were quite tame. The owner decided upon proceeding to America to exhibit the birds as one of the curiosities of Australia, but before matters had been arranged all of them were poisoned, it was supposed, by some malicious person.a

Other instances have been cited of a lyre bird having been reared and kept for lengthened or brief periods of time in the Drouin,

a Writing under "Nature notes" in The Argus of July 28, 1905, Mr. Donald Macdonald incidentally substantiates this fact. A correspondent, Mr. J. C. Mahan, of Woods Point, in giving some particulars about saving and keeping lyre birds in captivity, states: "When I found a nest I left the chicken for thirty days after it was hatched; then snared the old bird, and carried them with the nest to a large wire-netted aviary. The chicken was thus fed naturally by the mother. On one occasion I had a chicken in the nest for forty-two days. A bird that had been in my aviary for three or four years developed only three of the fronded feathers.' In my opinion the male bird does not reach its full plumage for eight years. I have never found more than 24 of the brown bars on a mature bird. It was a tedious and difficult task to accustom my birds to artificial food, and I lost thirteen before succeeding. The proof that I got the right system in the end was shown in the fact that after my birds had been maliciously poisoned they were opened and found to be lined with healthy fat, as the saying is. The late Mr. A. C. Le Souëf offered me £40 for the collection, and later Jamrach's agent offered £115 a pair for three domesticated pairs, to be delivered in London. I was going to accept this offer, when all my birds were poisoned; then I lost heart and gave it up. If the national park is ever established some lyre birds should be turned down there. With the right conditions they would breed in captivity. The experience of my own aviary satisfied me as to that."-Eds.

Mr. F. P. Godfrey in The Emu (Vol V., p. 33) mentions Mr. S. McNeilly, of Drouin, having had a male lyre bird in a state of domestication for twenty years. A photograph of this particular bird is herewith given. (See Plate VI.)-Eds.

Loch, and Omeo districts. Personally, I think it would be impracticable to keep a bird in captivity even after rearing it unless it had access to some scrub affording shelter and a supply of insects.

GENERAL NOTES.

Though lyre birds are chiefly found in the dense scrubby forest, they at times can be seen in fairly open country, but in such cases there is dense scrub at hand, and they disappear into this on the first approach of danger. In South Gippsland, where I have seen and heard hundreds of these birds, I never once saw them singing in cleared land, or even in open forest. Moreover, in no instance have I seen them feeding or running about on open ground. On one occasion I noticed about eight of them cross a narrow strip of cleared ground, about 5 chains wide, from one patch of scrub to another. They did this just before dusk by running quickly, jumping over logs, and floating, one after the other. During the great bush fires in South Gippsland in 1898 hundreds of lyre birds were burnt or starved, and I have been told by settlers that in the Jeetho district some of these birds came out of the burnt scrub and fed among the fowls near the farmhouses. This was doubtless owing to the destruction of insect life. It would indicate that they could in necessity become graminivorous birds. Mr. J. W. Bainbridge informs me that two lyre birds have become so tame near Mrs. Manfield's Temperance Hotel, at the foot of Mount Buffalo, that Mr. Manfield has photographed one of the pair perched on the fence near the place.

Lyre birds may be seen at altitudes from 100 feet above sea level in the dense gullies of South Gippsland to those of close on 6,000 feet, or as high as arboreal vegetation ascends, in the Australian Alps. In November, 1890, when returning to Harriet ville from Mount Feathertop (6,303 feet), in the Australian Alps, I saw between twenty and thirty male and female lyre birds on the stunted. snow gums (E. paunciflora) on the high ridge running from Feathertop and separating the Ovens River from Snowy Creek. They were at an altitude of about 5,700 feet and near the timber line. It was nearly sunset when I was surprised to hear a medley of melodious sounds, as if all the birds of the bush were singing their best and loudest. Being alone and on foot, I was in their midst before they noticed me, but to my surprise they not only remained jumping about the trees, or with heads inclined watched me from the branches, but many of them continued their unsurpassable mimicry of other forest birds. I regretted that approaching darkness did not allow me to stay and watch them longer. At altitudes of from 5,000 feet to the timber line I have seen these birds, or evidence of them, on the high

Gibbo Range, Mount Wild Boar, Mount Bogong, Mount Stirling, in Benambra, Victoria, and on the high timbered spurs of Mount Kosiciusko, New South Wales." Once, when camped, on March 20, 1896, on the summit of Mount Wild Boar, at an altitude of over 5,000 feet, I was awakened shortly after sunrise by beautiful and spirited whistling outside the tent entrance. On jumping up I found a male bird peering into the tent from a branch only a few feet away. After putting the camera together as hastily as circumstances permitted I had the mortification of seeing the bird glide away into the thick scrub just as I was about to take the photograph. Mr. Bainbridge informs me that he has heard during the winter a lyre bird whistling on Mount Buffalo at an altitude of 3,500 feet and quite close to snow.

Lyre birds are very inquisitive when found in districts or places where they have not been molested by man. On passing through such country one is sometimes escorted for some distance by these birds, which pass from tree to tree along the line of march. I have been informed by Messrs. W. Baragwanath, jr., and J. Easton, that once when they were surveying a line on the flanks of Mount Baw Baw a female bird came close up to the chain, watched it intently, and followed it as it was dragged along. Every time they made a noise the bird gave the well-known alarm whistle and darted into the scrub, to return almost immediately and repeat these tactics for some time. On another occasion, in a creek near Mount Useful, a male bird viewed them from blackwood trees 60 to 70 feet high and disappeared only after several sticks had been thrown at him. On other occasions they have brought these birds close up to themselves by whistling the birds' own notes, in the same way that the king lory can be decoyed.

Unlike some of the native birds which give their songs at certain times through the day, lyre birds may be heard in their haunts any time from dawn till dusk, regardless of the nature of the weather. On a misty day, when steady, light rain is falling, they may, perhaps, be said to be heard to the greatest advantage.

Lyre birds are inveterate scratchers and are almost unceasingly at such work, somewhere or other in the bush. They must do a great deal of good by destroying myriads of insects destructive to vegetation. Unwittingly they also do a certain amount of harm, by partially obliterating tracks, filling up side cuttings and survey trenches, and uprooting or burying survey pegs. Some years ago

a Hitherto Menura victoria has been recorded for Victoria only, but it is natural to suppose that the same species is found in the ranges extending over the border of New South Wales. It is probable that M. superba is not found south of the Blue Mountains. If it exist farther south, it would be interesting to find where the two species inosculate, if not intergrade.-Eds.

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