LYREBIRDS FOR TASMANIA

Evening Star, Issue 21822, 11 September 1934, Page 6

LYREBIRDS FOR TASMANIA

TO BE RELEASED HEAR HOBART For the first time, as far' as is known, living lyrebirds will be seen in Tasmania. A pair were captured recently and will be taken across Bass Strait by aeroplane, picked up by motor car, and released in the Tasmanian National Park, near Hobart. Several years ago an anonymous donor gave the Royal Australasian Ornithologists’ Union £SO for the purpose. At that time £lO was spent fruitlessly. A few weeks ago, after a visit to Melbourne by Mr Arthur Butler, a Tasmanian naturalist, the matter was raised again in the 1 Argus,’ and it was taken up by the bhief inspector of fisheries and game (Mr F. Lewis). . . ~ _ With Mr Lewis’s permission Air It. C. Howe, of Canterbury, an experienced bushman, undertook to obtain specimens. He found a pair of lyrebirds nesting in a gully near Selby recently. He captured both the male and female. An egg in the nest —and it is very late for a fresh egg to be found in a lyrebird’s nest —was taken as a museum specimen. Both birds were brought to Melbourne in good condition. At first they were fed by grubs placed in their beaks; later they took food of thenown accord. On the morning following capture the male delighted Mr Howe by rendering a fantasia of mockery from the box in which he was confined. It is hoped that it will lie possible to capture another pair later for release witli the first two birds in Tasmania.