. Animal Life and the World of Nature; A magazine of Natural History. A NATURALIST'S NOTES FROM THE BUSH. By Cyril Grant Lane. IV. THE AUSTEALIAN LYRE-BIKD. AT all times when reference is made to the Australian Lyre-Bird I seem to be ? swiftly transported to the forest home of these singularly interesting birds; to hear, as it were, the subdued splashing of the scrub-embowered, fern-hidden creeks flowing over the bed-rock of their chosen course from down the mountain-gullies, deeply shaded by canopies of promiscuous foliage, which, by its very density, defies the brilliant actinic rays of clou
. Animal Life and the World of Nature; A magazine of Natural History. A NATURALIST'S NOTES FROM THE BUSH. By Cyril Grant Lane. IV. THE AUSTEALIAN LYRE-BIKD. AT all times when reference is made to the Australian Lyre-Bird I seem to be ? swiftly transported to the forest home of these singularly interesting birds; to hear, as it were, the subdued splashing of the scrub-embowered, fern-hidden creeks flowing over the bed-rock of their chosen course from down the mountain-gullies, deeply shaded by canopies of promiscuous foliage, which, by its very density, defies the brilliant actinic rays of cloudless skies to filter through the secret depths of shadow and illumine the crystal waters flowing beneath : to be midst solemn mountains studded from base to summit with the softly-gleaming trunks of the mountain-ash, clothed with the olive-brown of their tapering, pendulous leaves: instinctively to feel that great hush so impressive, that calm and dignified silence so potent a part in the whole atmosphere of a mountainous region : and then, listen to the lyre-bird! The dogwood scrub thrusts its slender canes up towards the greater light; the supplejack, with toughened strands and sinuous tendrils, clasps the vegetation in powerful embrace, while the drooping fronds of ten thousand graceful tree-ferns gently fan the flower-scented atmosphere and shade the deep rich soil from the fiercer heat of the sun. From the margin of all such creeks rank patches of bracken-fern creep up the rugged sides of the contiguous ranges, covering their slopes with a mantle of green and brown, and affording to the entire animal life of the locality admirable! cover from the ravages of their respective enemies. Here, among these great quiet ranges, where a perpetual softened twilight percolates in delicate shafts of green and amber hue through the reticulate masses of foliage, is the ideal home, the true haunt, of the most wonder- ful bird-vocalist resident in the forest depths of the bush, i feel th
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, bookpublisherlondo, bookyear1902
