Lyre Bird
The Australian Lyre Bird is a most beautiful creature, said to be a variety of the Bird of Paradise. It runs very quickly, and springs very high, and calls very loudly. It lays but one egg a year and, consequently, only has one baby per annum. It is a great mimic. Mr. Metcalfe in his "Australian Zoology", describing it, says: "It is a consummate mimic and ventriloquist. It imitates to perfection the notes of all other birds, the united voices of a flock of parrakeets, the barking of dogs, the sawing of timber and the clink of the woodman's axe. This it has earned for itself the title of the Australian Mocking Bird."
Our Seven Funny Australian Natives
The Kangaroo says, whenever I jump,
I always come down with a great big thump.
The Emu can give a nasty kick;
Which is worse than getting a hit with a brick.
I'm but a funny wild, little, spotted Native Cat,
With claws and tail like a squirrel and a nose like a rat.
Common people call me simply Mr. PLATYPUS,
Learned people call me Mr. OR-NI-THO-RINK-KUS.
I'm bit a little Native Bear, and am so happy and bright,
I sleep and dream in a tree by day, and climb about at night.
The clever Bower Bird builds his nest up a tree,
And his beautiful palace down on the lea.
Here we see a pretty bird, of its voice you will never tire,
But tho' it mocks the sounds it hears the bird is still a Lyre.
(By a Company of Three Particularly Poor Poets.)

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Page 150—Pussy Land

Cat Stories
Puss in the Well
Ding dong dell, pussy's in the well!
Who put her in?—little Tommy Lin.
Who pulled her out?—dog with long snout.
What a naughty boy was that
To drown poor pussy cat,
Who never did any harm
But kill'd the mice in his father's barn.
The Singing Cat
A cat came fiddling out of a barn,
With a pair of bagpipes under her arm;
She could sing nothing but fiddle cum fee,
The mouse has married the bumble-bee.
Pipe cat—dance, mouse,
We'll have a wedding at our good house.
Puss in London
Pussy-cat, pussy-cat, where have you been?
I've been to London to visit the Queen.
Pussy-cat, pussy-cat, what did you there?
I frighten'd a little mouse under the chair.