The Lyre-Bird.

Scarce c.19th hand coloured engraving of a lively scene with a male and female Lyre bird, with a large flock of Sulphur Crested Cockatoos in the background.

First sighted: November 1797, by a an ex-convict who lived with the Aborigines after his term had expired. Said that there was in the bush near Sydney, “a bird of the pheasant species’. Near Sydney, John Wilson (Barrington 1802) 1798

First recorded sighting: “We saw nothing strange except a few rock kangaroos with long black brush tails, and two pheasants which we could not get a shot at”. Nepean, John Price (Historical Records NSW, 3 Appendix C.) 1798

First capture: “Here I shot a bird about the size of a Pheasant, but the tail of it very much resembels a Peacock, with large long feathers which are white, orange, and lead colour, and black at the ends; its body betwixt a brown and green, brown under his neck and black upon his head. Black legs and very lond claws.” Near Bargo, John Price (Historical Records NSW, 3 Appendix C.) 1798

Mimicry of the Lyrebird: “They sing for two hours in the morning, beginning from the time when they quit the valley, until they attain the summit of the hill; where they scrape together a small hillock, on which they stand, with their tail spread over them, imitating successively the note of every bird known in the country.” South-west of Sydney David Collins (An account of the English Colony…) 1800

First scientific description: The total length of this singular bird from the point of the bill to the end of the broad tail feathers is 43 inches; 25 of which are in the tail alone. The bill rather exceeds an inch in length, is strong, formed much like that of a peacock… Blackheath, Thomas Davies. (Transactions of the Linnean Society of London)

Modern binomial name: Menura novaehollandiae
Distribution: VIC, NSW, QLD and introduced to Tasmania

References:
Ferguson, J. A. Bibliography of Australia Volumes 1-8, Canberra 1976 18617.

Collections:
State Library Victoria: SLTF 919.4 W 68 A
State Library New South Wales: Call Number: DSM/Q980.1/W
State Library South Australia: 994T W739 b
National Library Australia: Bib ID 760447