40G DRUM.Klll.K. 



wondered at that Station people destroy them. Only a few months af,'o I was on a station in 

 the back country where a pack of dogs was Icept entirely to destroy Kinus ; these dogs had to 

 kill an Emu before they were fed, because they practically had nothing else to live upon. It 

 certainly seems a strange food for dogs, but they were all in good condition and healthy. The 

 overseer of this station told me that before they started using dogs, a few years ago, it was no 

 uncommon thing to see about two hundred Emus in a Hock', now he seldom sees more than 

 twenty; he said it was not so much the killing as the driving of them away. Emus cannot 

 stand a severe drought : all on this estate died in the big drought of 1902, and I did not see 

 another 1-^mu here till iijio, when one was here with young only a few days old, although they 

 have not been seen since, I am hoping they are still about, but all the same I should not 

 like to see them in flocks of hundreds. The breeding season is regulated by the weather 

 conditions; in an average season most of them lay in June, but in severe droughts very few of 

 them lay at all. In i.Sy7 I was living on a station about seventy miles west from here, and 

 during July of that year, while mustering sheep, four of us found one hundred and forty Emu's 

 eggs. During the last four years, I understand, not a single Emu has been seen on that station. 

 I think there is little doubt that occasionally two birds will lay in the same nest ; I heard 

 of a nest being fouml containing twenty-two eggs, but only one bird was sitting. We once had 

 a pair of Emus in captivity ; they used to make a nest and lay every year ; the male liird did all 

 the sitting, in fact as the birds ^;rew old the female became such a nuisance we always had to 

 put her into the next paddock as soon as she had linished laying. What their custom is in their 

 native state, with regard to incubation, I have been unable to prove. To carry a young Emu 

 any distance is about the most objectionable thing imaginable in connection with bird life, their 

 stomachs appear to be always full to overflowing with digested green grass, etc., and the (]uantity 

 they will pass when handled is simply astonishing. Some Emus are very carious; I have 

 brought them up to within fifty yards of my buggy by just waving my handkerchief tied on to 

 a whip handle." 



Mr. W. M. Thomas, District Surveyor, Lands Office, Grafton, New South Wales, who has 

 spent over thirty years in the Central and Western Districts of New South Wales, remarks: — 

 " Orif;inally the luiiu ranged over the whole of New South Wales, and in the early days of 

 settlement was hunted e\en in the streets of Sydney. E.xcept in the breeding season these birds 

 travel in flocks. They are very inquisitive, and are attracted by anything out of the ordinary 

 on theii usual feeding grounds, especially if the article be red. They often appear to enjoy 

 frightening animals, and will apparently for mischief run hither and thither through a flock of 

 ewes and lambs for the purpose of startling them. In captivity they exhibit the same mischievous 

 traits in frightening horses, causing them to break the bridles or bolt ; and I have seen one that 

 was apparently enjoying the terror of a hen whose chickens it was tossing about. I have never 

 seen any Emus poisoned with baits laid for rabbits, but, as they would readily pick these up 

 mistak'ing them for grubs, doubtless many have been poisoned. The main food supplies of the 

 grown birds are grass, insects, native seeds and fruits, and probably young birds. In fruits they 

 are e.xceptionally fond of Ouandongs and the fruits of Colane or Grouie. Eor the purpose of 

 digestion they swallow stones, pieces of iron such as bolts and nuts, and light articles. They 

 drink large quantities of water in summer, and, after satisfying their thirst in the evening of a 

 hot day, can be much more easily run down than at any other time. W'lien near the gait appears 

 awkward, and the peculiar plumage, which is of a greyish-brown colour, gives a rustling sound 

 similar to that of long dry grass waving in the wind. In the distance the gait look's smooth and 

 easy, and the speed is ipiite equal to that of a fast horse. They make a loud drumming sound, 

 and this is used both to attract each other and in defiance. The chief mode of defence is by 

 kicking, and the powerful leg and claw are capable of inflicting a very severe wound and breaking 

 a man's bones. The Emu makes a rude nest at the foot of a tree, among the fallen leaves and 

 boughs, or in the long grass on slightly raised ground on the plains. The laying period extends 



