Lyrebird Research Articles

The Lore of the Lyre Bird

The Lore of the Lyre Bird

The Lyre-bird in Victoria

The Lyre-bird in Victoria

Littlejohns' 'The Magic Voice' The Magic Voice. A Story of the Australian Lyre-Bird R. T. Littlejohns

Littlejohns' 'The Magic Voice' The Magic Voice. A Story of the Australian Lyre-Bird R. T. Littlejohns

Recording the Song of the Lyrebird

Recording the Song of the Lyrebird

Lyrebird's Mimicry Recorded

Lyrebird's Mimicry Recorded

Vanishing Life of Australia

THE conditions which made for the evolution of the fauna of Australia along its unique path, the isolation of the continent associated with the early influx of primitive groups of animals, are now hastening that peculiar fauna towards its doom. Uniqueness has its own attractions, and there can be no replenishment of the disappearing forms from the outside world. There can be no doubt on the question of the disappearance of Australian birds and mammals. Sir James Barrett expresses the general opinion in Australia when he says: “The answer is unequivocal. Except in certain places where enlightened citizens have protected them, they are all disappearing. It is difficult for anyone to show a visitor in the State of Victoria, the larger marsupials or the lyre bird. It is quite impossible to find the smaller marsupials except in a few favoured places and with great trouble. It is, indeed, feared that some varieties have been exterminated.”

The Lyrebird—Australia's Wonder-Bird

The Lyrebird—Australia's Wonder-Bird

Lyrebird and Pilot-Bird

Lyrebird and Pilot-Bird

Prince Edward's Lyre-Bird Re-visited

Prince Edward's Lyre-Bird Re-visited

Prince Edward's Lyre-Bird at Home

Prince Edward's Lyre-Bird at Home

The Nesting of Lyre-Birds

The Nesting of Lyre-Birds

Lyre-Bird's Nest

Lyre-Bird's Nest

The haunts of the Lyre-bird.

The haunts of the Lyre-bird.

Porosity of the Lyre-bird's egg.

Porosity of the Lyre-bird's egg.

Lyre-Birds and the Camera

Lyre-Birds and the Camera

The Lyre-Bird at Poowong

The Lyre-Bird at Poowong

Male Lyre-Bird Incubating

Male Lyre-Bird Incubating

The Australian Lyre Bird

HAVING been stationed at intervals for some years on the mountains of Eastern Manaro, in the southern part of New South Wales, the habitat of the Lyre Bird or Native Pheasant (Menura superba or Paradisea), I have thought some fuller particulars regarding its habits, than are usually obtainable, might be interesting to your readers.

Biological Notes

CEPHALISATION.—Such is the name given by Prof. Dana to what he terms a fundamental principle in the development of the system of animal life. Its meaning can be best explained by the employment of the instances used by its author. The lobster and the crab are closely allied decapod crustaceans. In the lobster the tail is large, the cephalo-thorax elongate, and the antennæ of considerable size. In the crab the tail is minute, packed under the cephalo-thorax, which is short, as are the antennæ; and from this we may infer that passing upwards from the Macrural to the Brachyural forms there is an abbreviation and a compacting of structure before and behind the head. “In the whale the tail is the propelling organ and is of enormous power and magnitude, and the brain is very small and is situated far from the head extremity in a great mass of flesh and bone furnished with poor organs of sense.” The principle is therefore that in low types “there is, usually, large size and strength behind, an elongation of the whole structure, and a low degree of compactness in the parts before and behind; in the high, there is a relatively shorter and more compacted structure, a more forward distribution of the muscular forces or arrangements, and a belter head.” The analogy is ingenious, but we can see nothing of value in the argument more than a repetition of the well-known principle that height in the scale of creation and amount of cerebral development are correlated phenomena. Are we to place the koala, which, by the way, is wonderfully like some of the much higher Lemurs in its proportions, at the top of the Marsupial phyllum and the kangaroos at the bottom, because the former wants the tail and has a blunt nose, whilst the latter have an enormous caudal appendage and a slender snout? Is the sun-fish so much higher than the eel, and the ostrich than the lyre bird? We fear that cephalisation is not a true law of nature.

The Lyre Bird of Australia

The Lyre Bird of Australia