Lyrebird - Relationship With Humans - Painting By John Gould

Painting By John Gould

The lyrebird is so called because the male bird has a spectacular tail consisting of 16 highly modified feathers (two long slender lyrates at the centre of the plume, two broader medians on the outside edges and twelve filamentaries arrayed between them), which was originally thought to resemble a lyre. This happened when a Superb Lyrebird specimen (which had been taken from Australia to England during the early 19th century) was prepared for display at the British Museum by a taxidermist who had never seen a live lyrebird. The taxidermist mistakenly thought that the tail would resemble a lyre, and that the tail would be held in a similar way to that of a peacock during courtship display, and so he arranged the feathers in this way. Later, John Gould (who had also never seen a live lyrebird), painted the lyrebird from the British Museum specimen.

Although very beautiful, the male lyrebird's tail is not held as in John Gould's painting, nor as in the portrayal of the Superb Lyrebird on the 1932 postage stamp (featured on this page above the photo of John Gould's painting). Instead, the male lyrebird's tail is fanned over the lyrebird during courtship display, with the tail completely covering his head and back — as can be seen in the image at the top of this page, where the Superb Lyrebird's tail (in courtship display) is portrayed accurately.

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