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Article: The lyrebird suite.(Travel)
- Article from:
- World Literature Today
- Article date:
- January 1, 2006
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2006 University of Oklahoma. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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THE ALBERT'S LYREBIRD of Australia is one of the most impressive of all birds, with long curved plumes like the ancient Greek lyre and a powerful song to match. He's one of few birds to combine a magnificent appearance with an awesome and exact courtship display. Beneath his bouquet of a tail he's like a small brown pheasant, running quietly through the Queensland mountain rainforests, silent and inconspicuous, until he decides he wants to be heard, which is every day during his winter breeding season. Then he performs one of the most precisely choreographed rituals in the whole world of birds.
Every morning, just before dawn, he descends from his resting perch ...