“Of all the birds I have ever met with,” says Mr. Gould, “the Menura is by far the most shy and difficult to procure. While among the brushes, I have been surrounded by these birds, pouring forth their loud andliquid calls, for days together, without being able to get a sight of them; and it was only by the most determined perseverance and extreme caution that I was enabled to effect this desirable object; which was rendered the more difficult by their often frequenting the almost inaccessible and precipitous sides of gullies and ravines, covered with tangled masses of creepers, and umbrageous trees: the cracking of a stick, the rolling down of a small stone, or any other noise, however slight, is sufficient to alarm it; and none but those who have traversed these rugged, hot, and suffocating brushes, can fully understand the excessive labour attendant on the pursuit of the Menura. Independently of climbing over rocks and fallen trunks of trees, the sportsman has to creep and crawl beneath and among the branches with the utmost caution, taking care only to advance when the bird’s attention is occupied in singing, or in scratching up the leaves in search of food: to watch its actions, it is necessary to remain perfectly motionless, not venturing to move even in the slightest degree, or it vanishes from sight, as if by magic. Although I have said thus much on the cautiousness of the Menura, it is not always so alert: in some of the more accessible brushes through which roads have been cut, it may frequently be seen, and even on horseback closely approached, the bird apparently evincing less fear of those animals than of man. At Illawarra it is sometimes successfully pursued by dogs trained to rush suddenly upon it, when it immediately leaps upon the branch of a tree, and its attention being attracted by the dog which stands barking below, it is easily approached and shot. Another successful mode of procuring specimens is, by wearing a tail of a full-plumaged male in the hat, keeping it constantly in motion, and concealing the person among the bushes, when the attention of the bird being arrested by the apparent intrusion of another of its own sex, it will be attracted within the range of the gun: if the bird be hidden from view by the surrounding objects, any unusual sound, as a shrill whistle, will generally induce him to show himself for an instant, by causing him to leap with a gay and sprightly air upon some neighbouring branch to ascertain the cause of the disturbance:immediate advantage must be taken of this circumstance, or the next moment it may be half-way down the gully. So totally different is the shooting of this bird to anything practised in Europe, that the most expert shot would have but little chance, until well experienced in the peculiar nature of the country, and the habits of the bird. The Menura seldom, if ever, attempts to escape by flying; it easily eludes pursuit by its extraordinary power of running.