[1] See Ed. Gerhard, _Auserlesene griech. Vasenbilder_, part iii.
(Berlin, 1847), pl. 236 and p. 157.
[2] See Aristotle, _Polit_. v. 6. 5.
LYRE-BIRD, the name by which one of the most remarkable birds Of
Australia is commonly known, the _Menura superba_ or _M.
novae-hollandiae_ of ornithologists. It was first observed in 1798 in
New South Wales, and though called by its finders a "pheasant"--from its
long tail--the more learned of the colony seem to have regarded it as a
bird-of-Paradise.[1] A specimen having reached England in 1799, it was
described by General Davies as forming a new genus of birds, in the
Linnean Society's _Transactions_ (vi. p. 207, pl. xxii.), no attempt,
however, being made to fix its systematic place. In 1802 L. P. Vieillot
figured and described it in a supplement to his _Oiseaux Dorés_ as a
bird-of-Paradise (ii. pp. 30 seq., pls. 14-16), from drawings by
Sydenham Edwards, sent him by Parkinson, the manager of the Leverian
Museum. The first to describe any portion of its anatomy was T. C.
Eyton, who in 1841 (_Ann. Nat. History_, vii. pp. 49-53) perceived that
it was a Passerine bird and that it presented some points of affinity to
the South American genus _Pteroptochus_. In 1867 Huxley stated that he
was disposed to divide his very natural assemblage the _Coracomorphae_
(essentially identical with Eyton's _Insessores_) into two groups, "one
containing _Menura_, and the other all the other genera which have yet
been examined" (_Proc. Zool. Soc._, 1867, p. 472)--a still further step
in advance.[2] In 1875 A. Newton put forth the opinion in his article on
birds, in the 9th edition of this _Encyclopaedia_, that _Menura_ had an
ally in another Australian form, _Atrichia_ (see SCRUB-BIRD), which he
had found to present peculiarities hitherto unsuspected, and he regarded
them as standing by themselves, though each constituting a distinct
family. This opinion was partially adopted in the following year by A.
H. Garrod, who (_Proc. Zool. Society_, 1876, p. 518) formally placed
these two genera together in his group of Abnormal Acromyodian _Oscines_
under the name of _Menurinae_; ornithologists now generally recognize at
once the alliance and distinctness of the families Menuridae and
Atrichiidae, and place them together to form the group _Suboscines_ of
the Diacromyodian _Passeres_.
Since the appearance in 1865 of J. Gould's _Handbook to the Birds of
Australia_, little important information has been published concerning
the habits of this form, and the account therein given must be drawn
upon for what here follows. Of all birds, says that author, the _Menura_
is the most shy and hard to procure. He has been among the rocky and
thick "brushes"--its usual haunts--hearing its loud and liquid
call-notes for days together without getting sight of one. Those who
wish to see it must advance only while it is singing or scratching up
the earth and leaves; and to watch its actions they must keep perfectly
still. The best way of procuring an example seems to be by hunting it
with dogs, when it will spring upon a branch to the height of 10 ft. and
afford an easy shot ere it has time to ascend farther or escape as it
does by leaps. Natives are said to hunt it by fixing on their heads the
erected tail of a cock-bird, which alone is allowed to be seen above the
brushwood. The greater part of its time is said to be passed upon the
ground, and seldom are more than a pair to be found in company. One of
the habits of the cock is to form small round hillocks, which he
constantly visits during the day, mounting upon them and displaying his
tail by erecting it over his head, drooping his wings, scratching and
pecking at the soil, and uttering various cries--some his own natural
notes, others an imitation of those of other animals. The tail, his most
characteristic feature, only attains perfection in the bird's third or
fourth year, and then not until the month of June, remaining until
October, when the feathers are shed to be renewed the following season.
The food consists of insects, especially beetles and myriapods, as well
as snails. The nest is placed near to or on the ground, at the base of
a rock or foot of a tree, and is closely woven of fine but strong roots
or other fibres, and lined with feathers, around all which is heaped a
mass, in shape of an oven, of sticks, grass, moss and leaves, so as to
project over and shelter the interior structure, while an opening in the
side affords entrance and exit. Only one egg is laid, and this of rather
large size in proportion to the bird, of a purplish-grey colour,
suffused and blotched with dark purplish-brown.
Incubation is believed to begin in July or August, and the young is
hatched about a month later. It is at first covered with dark down, and
appears to remain for some weeks in the nest. It is greatly to be hoped
that so remarkable a form as the lyre-bird, the nearly sole survivor
apparently of a very ancient race of beings, will not be allowed to
become extinct--its almost certain fate so far as can be judged--without
many more observations of its manners being made. Several examples of
_Menura_ have been brought alive to Europe, and some have long survived
in captivity.
[Illustration: FIG. 1.]
[Illustration: FIG. 2.]
[Illustration: FIG. 3.]
Three species of _Menura_ have been indicated--the old _M. superba_, the
lyre-bird proper, which inhabits New South Wales, the southern part of
Queensland, and perhaps some parts of Victoria; _M. victoriae_,
separated from the former by Gould (_Proc. Zool. Soc._, 1862, p. 23),
and said to take its place near Melbourne; and _M. alberti_, first
described by C. L. Bonaparte (_Consp. Avium_, i. 215) on Gould's
authority, and, though discovered on the Richmond river in New South
Wales, having apparently a more northern range than the other two. All
those have the apparent bulk of a hen pheasant, but are really much
smaller, and their general plumage is of a sooty brown, relieved by
rufous on the chin, throat, some of the wing-feathers and the
tail-coverts. The wings, consisting of twenty-one remiges, are rather
short and rounded; the legs[3] and feet very strong, with long, nearly
straight claws. In the immature and female the tail is somewhat long,
though affording no very remarkable character, except the possession of
sixteen rectrices; but in the fully-plumaged male of _M. superba_ and
_M. victoriae_ it is developed in the extraordinary fashion that gives
the bird its common English name. The two exterior feathers (fig. 1, a,
b) have the outer web very narrow, the inner very broad, and they curve
at first outwards, then somewhat inwards, and near the tip outwards
again, bending round forwards so as to present a lyre-like form. But
this is not all; their broad inner web, which is of a lively chestnut
colour, is apparently notched at regular intervals by spaces that,
according to the angle at which they are viewed, seem either black or
transparent; and this effect is, on examination, found to be due to the
barbs at those spaces being destitute of barbules. The middle pair of
feathers (fig. 2, a, b) is nearly as abnormal. These have no outer web,
and the inner web very narrow; near their base they cross each other,
and then diverge, bending round forwards near their tip. The remaining
twelve feathers (fig. 3) except near the base are very thinly furnished
with barbs, about ¼ in. apart, and those they possess, on their greater
part, though long and flowing, bear no barbules, and hence have a
hair-like appearance. The shafts of all are exceedingly strong. In the
male of _M. alberti_ the tail is not only not lyriform, but the exterior
rectrices are shorter than the rest. (A. N.)