Lyre Bird
Menura superba (or novæ hollandiæ), an insectivorous Australian bird, placed by Professor Huxley in his Coracomorphæ. Habitat New South Wales, the S. part of Queensland, 199 W LYRES the former runs behind the upper part of the strings, while the strings of the latter are free on both sides. Its invention is ascribed to the Grecian Hermes (in Latin Mercury), who, according to Homer's story, gave it to Apollo, the first that played on it with method and accompanied it with poetry. The invention LYRE BIRD and perhaps some parts of the colony of Victoria. The lyre lyre bird is not se large as a hen-pheasant; plumage, sootybrown, relieved by rufous on chin, throat, some of the wing-feathers, and the tailcoverts. The 16 rectrices are developed in the male in the extraordinary fashion that gives the bird its English name.
The two exterior have the outer web very narrow, and the inner very broad, and they curve at first outward, then somewhat inward, and near the tip outward again, bending round so as to present a lyre-like form. The middle pair of feathers have the outer web broad and the inner web very narrow; they cross near their base, and then diverge, bending round forward near the tip. The remaining 12 feathers are thinly furnished with barbs and present a hairlike appearance. LYRIC POETRY