File:The boy travellers in Australasia - adventures of two youths in a journey to the Sandwich, Marquesas, Society, Samoan and Feejee islands, and through the colonies of New Zealand, New South Wales, (14598500599).jpg

Identifier: boytravellersina00knox (find matches)
Title: The boy travellers in Australasia : adventures of two youths in a journey to the Sandwich, Marquesas, Society, Samoan and Feejee islands, and through the colonies of New Zealand, New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria, Tasmania, and South Australia
Year: 1889 (1880s)
Authors: Knox, Thomas Wallace, 1835-1896 Harper & Brothers. pbl
Subjects: Voyages and travels Adventure and adventurers Tutors and tutoring Friendship Sailing Sailors Animals Natural history
Publisher: New York : Harper & Brothers
Contributing Library: School of Theology, Boston University
Digitizing Sponsor: Boston University

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nged emblem of Australia was about the size of a pheasant,and had a tail three feet long; the outer feathers of the tail are beauti-fully marked, and form the lyre from which the bird takes its name.The male bird forms a moimd of earth on which he promenades, dis-playing his beautiful tail to its utmost advantage, in the same way thatthe peacock exhibits his feathered ornaments. The female is as plainas an ordinary hen, and presents a very mean appearance by the side ofher lord. The youths were further informed that the lyre-bird is an excellentmocking-bird, and could imitate with exactness the notes of all the otherfeathered denizens of the forest. He can also, said their authority,reproduce nearly every sound made by man. Settlers in the regioninhabited by these birds are often deceived by them, and many amusingstories are told. Sometimes a man working on his clearing hears some-body chopping wood a short distance away, and a dog barking at his TRICKS OF THE AUSTRALIAN PHEASANT. 411
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Wallaces standard-wing birds-of-paradise, male and female. heels. He goes in search of the intruder, and finds after a long walkthat the pheasant has been making game of him. A man using across-cut saw hears somebody doing the same thing, and after searchingunsuccessfully for him, discovers that it is the pheasants performance. Frank summed up the rest of the ornithology of Australia as fol-lows : The great southern continent has many varieties of the parrot 412 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN AUSTRALASIA. family; it j)ossesses the king parrot, the bird-of-paradise, the bluemountain-parrot, the cockatoo—blue, white, and crested — lories, par-oquets, and love-birds. It has the wild turkey, which we have alreadymentioned, and a bird closely allied to it, called by the singular nameof native companion. Wild-ducks are found all over the country, the mountain duck being the finest; then in their order come the blackduck, wood-duck, and the Australian teal, followed by five or six othervarieties

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