Birdmania by Bernd Brunner

Author:Bernd Brunner
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Allen & Unwin
Published: 2017-09-16T04:00:00+00:00

He praised the birds’ domestic arrangements, as well: “The domestic life of the Menura is extraordinarily placid and affectionate. The functions of husband and wife are clearly defined and are accepted as inevitable obligations and discharged by either without contest or quarrelling.”

And female lyrebirds are, apparently, exceedingly appreciative of their mate’s dancing prowess: “[T]he hen bird never tires of the male’s performances, but always provides him with an attentive and apparently insatiable audience.”

He also noticed that lyrebirds seem to have a particular love of beauty, which they express not only in their mating displays, but also in their choice of tree on which to perch: “His favourite is the blackwood, whose dark, umbrageous foliage and graceful form marks it out as one of the most charming of Australia’s forest growths.”

The birds seem to appreciate fragrance, as well. According to Pratt, they haunt stands of sweet-smelling musk and sassafras, perhaps because they have developed a keen sense of smell to warn them of the approach of odiferous predators such as wild cats and foxes. A happy lyrebird, it seems, likes to sing its song surrounded by “enchanting perfumes.”

The most amazing thing about the lyrebird in Pratt’s book was its relationship with a woman called Mrs. Wilkinson, who lived in hermit-like isolation. Mrs. Wilkinson lived near a remote mountain valley that she had preserved for wildlife. Her business was growing cut flowers for the Melbourne market. One morning, to her great astonishment, a male lyrebird appeared in front of her house, calmly pecking for grubs. Lyrebirds are by nature extremely shy and are rarely seen, so Mrs. Wilkinson felt honored by the visit. As their relationship progressed, she built the bird a platform outside her sitting room window where he could display and sing, and, with the exception of one time when she couldn’t help herself and reached out to touch him, she was careful never to intrude upon his personal space. In return, he kept her company, and for the time of year when he was in possession of his magnificent tail feathers, he entertained her with song. Once he dropped his tail feathers in August, however, he retreated to the forest as though ashamed that he had lost his finery. He profited from his seclusion by expanding his vocal repertoire and returned in the fall to proudly display to his human companion not only his newly grown tail feathers but also his latest songs.

Mrs. Wilkinson and the bird, which she called James, appeared to have a close, almost telepathic relationship—according to Pratt’s account, at least. On one occasion, Mrs. Wilkinson was taken ill and had to retire to bed.

Nausea beset her, and for several hours she lay prostrate, wondering in the intervals between spasms of acute sickness how long a time must pass before some tradesmen or neighbours might come to whom she could appeal for help. She fell at length into an exhausted slumber, to be awakened by strange scratching sounds outside her bedroom window. They continued for at

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