Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 46.djvu/799

Rh above pointed out. The present writer shares this opinion with him.

The appearance of the Superb lyre bird is well shown in Fig. 10, and the adults attain a size about equal to that of our ruffed grouse (Bonasa), or rather less. It is only the adult male that possesses the extraordinarily developed tail shown in the drawing, although that appendage is quite lengthy in the female, and contains sixteen feathers. These birds have a smoky-brown plumage, loose in texture, which inclines to chestnut on the throat and tail

{{c|{{fs85|{{sc| Fig. 10.—The Lyre Bird}} {Menura superba). Drawn by the author.}}}}

coverts. Their wings are rounded and short, while their legs and feet are strongly developed. They spend most of their time on the ground, have a loud call note, but, owing to their great shyness and the rocky, broken country they inhabit, are only taken with difficulty. They go in pairs, and Gould says they are most successfully hunted by treeing them with dogs. The bird is four years old before its gorgeous tail is fully matured, but after that it is molted and renewed every season. Its food consists of land snails and various kinds of insects, and its nest is a massive structure usually built on the ground, and has an entrance at the side. Menura lays but one egg, that is large for the size of the bird. It is blotched with purplish brown on a ground color of a