"Its height was sixteen inches; its body covered with a brown down, but the wings and tail were already furnished with feathers of a dark-brown colour. The head was thickly covered with a greyish-white down, of from one to two inches in length; the eyes were hazel brown; the beak blackish and soft; the legs nearly as large as those of a full-grown specimen, but it walked most awkwardly, with the legs bent inwards. It rose with difficulty, the wings assisting, and, when on its legs, occasionally ran for a short distance, but often fell, apparently from want of strength to move the large and heavy bones of its legs properly. It constantly endeavoured to approach the camp-fire, and it was a matter of some difficulty to keep it from a dangerous proximity to it. Its cry of 'tching-tching' was often uttered during the daytime, as if re-calling the parent bird; and when this call was answered by its keeper feigning the note 'bullen-bullen'—the native name for the Lyre Bird, which is an imitation of the old birds' cry—it followed the voice at once, and was easily led away by it. It soon became very tame, and was exceedingly voracious, refusing no kind of food, but standing ready, with widely-gaping bill, awaiting the approaching hand which held the food, consisting principally of worms and the larvæ of ants, commonly called ants' eggs, but it did not refuse bits of meat, bread, &c. Occasionally it picked up ants' eggs from the ground, but was never able to swallow them, the muscles of the neck not having acquired sufficient power to effect the required jerk and throwing back of the head. It rarely if ever partook of water. It reposed in a nest made of moss, and lined with opossum-skin, where it appeared to be quite content. While asleep the head was covered with one of the wings. When called 'bullen-bullen' it awoke, looked for several seconds at the disturber, soon put its head under the wing again, and took no notice whatever of other sounds or voices. That the young Menura remains for a long time in the nest is proved by the manner in which it disposes of its droppings; our young captive always went backward before dropping its dung, in order to avoid soiling the nest. It is probable that it leaves the nest in the daytime, when the warmth of the weather invites it to do so, but that during the night it remains in the nest; and if the weather should become cold the mother shelters her young, the nest being large enough to contain both."
A second species of Lyre Bird, the Menura Alberti, is thus described by Mr. Gould:—
"The habits of this bird are very similar to those of the Menura superba, but having seen and watched both on their playgrounds, I find the Menura Alberti is far superior in its powers of mocking and imitating the cries and songs of others of the feathered race to the Menura superba. Its own peculiar cry or song is also different, being of a much louder and fuller tone. I once listened to one of these birds that had taken up its quarters within two hundred yards of a sawyer's hut, and he had made himself perfect with all the noises of the homestead—the crowing of the cocks, the cackling of the hens, the barking and howling of the dogs, and even the painful screeching of the sharpening or filing of the saw. I have never seen more than a pair together. Each bird appears to have its own walk or boundary, and never to infringe on the other's ground, for I have heard them day after day in the same place, and seldom nearer than a quarter of a mile to each other. Whilst singing they spread their tails over their heads like a Peacock, droop their wings to the ground, and at the same time scratch and peck up the earth. They sing mornings and evenings, and more in winter than at any other time. The young cocks do not sing until they get their full tails, which I fancy is not until the fourth year, having shed them in four different stages. The two centre curved feathers are the last to make their appearance. They live upon small insects, principally beetles; their flesh is not eatable, being dark, dry, and tough, and quite unlike that of other birds. They commence building their nests in May, lay in June, and have young in July. They generally place their nests on the side of some steep rock, where there is sufficient room to form a lodgment, so that no animals or vermin can approach."
The following particulars respecting this species we extract from one of Dr. Bennett's interesting works on Australia:—"The locality it frequents, says Dr. Stephenson, 'consists of mountain ridges not very densely covered with brush. It passes most of its time on the ground, feeding and strutting about, with the tail reflected over the back to within an inch or two of the head, and with the wings drooping on the ground. Each bird forms for itself three or four "corroborring places," as the sawyers call them. These consist of holes scratched in the sandy ground, about two feet and a half in diameter, by sixteen, eighteen, or twenty inches in depth, and about three or four hundred yards apart, or even more. Whenever you get a sight of the bird, which can only be done with the greatest caution, and by taking advantage of intervening objects to shelter yourself from its observation, you will find it in one or other of these holes, into which it frequently jumps, and seems to be feeding; it then ascends again, and struts round and round the place, imitating with its powerful musical voice any bird it may chance to hear around it. The note of the Dacelo gigantea, or Laughing Jackass, it imitates to perfection. Its own whistle is exceedingly beautiful and varied. No sooner does it perceive an intruder than it flies up into the nearest tree, first alighting on the lowermost branches, and then ascending by a succession of jumps, until it reaches the top, whence it instantly darts off to another of its playgrounds. The stomachs of those I dissected,' continues Dr. Stephenson, 'invariably contained insects, with scarcely a trace of any other material. Now collectors of insects know that gravel-pits and sandy holes afford them great treats, and it appears to me that one, if not the principal use of the excavations made by this bird is to act as a trap for unwary coleopterous and other insects, which falling in cannot ascend again, and are therefore easily secured.' Mr. Strange, who met with this species in the cedar bushes which skirt Turanga Creek, Richmond River, says, 'Like the Menura superba, it is of a shy disposition. When alarmed or running away, it carries the tail erect, and not drooping downward like that species. I spent ten days in the midst of cedar-brushes in the hope of seeing something of its nidification, but did not succeed in finding any nest with eggs. I found, however, one large, dome-shaped nest, made of sticks placed in the spur of a large fig-tree, which the natives assured me was that of the Colevin, their name for this bird. It resembles that of Orthonyx, except that the inside was not lined with moss, but with litter from a large mass of parasitical plants that had fallen to the ground. The natives agree in asserting that the eggs are only laid in cold weather, by which I apprehend they mean the spring, as I shot a young specimen about four months old on the 24th of November which had the whole of the body still covered with brown and greyish down. I have seen this specimen take extraordinary leaps of not less than ten feet from the ground, on to some convenient branch, whence it continues to ascend in successive jumps, until it has attained a sufficient elevation to enable it to take flight into the gully below.'"
The WARBLERS (Sylviadæ) are among the smallest and most fascinating of the feathered race. They are recognisable by their short, awl-shaped beaks, powerful feet, short, rounded wings, long, variously formed tails, and usually silky plumage.
The SONG WARBLERS (Sylviæ), the most attractive group of this family, are all little birds, having soft, silky, variously-coloured plumage and a slender body; the beak is slightly conical, strong at the base, almost as broad as it is high, hooked and slightly incised at its tip; the foot is powerful and of medium length, the toes short and strong. The wings are rounded and of moderate size, the third and fourth quills being longer than the rest; the tail, which is composed of twelve feathers, varies in its formation. Light grey predominates in the coloration of the plumage; but is varied with different shades of red and brown; the adult male and female are generally but not invariably alike.