DROM.EUS. 411 



Mr. C. M. Betts, writing to me from Gladesville on the 30th October, 1895, relative to some 

 tame l^mus in the paddock there, in presenting an egg on the point of hatching to the Trustees 

 remarked: — "The female commenced to sit on tlie eggs on the 26th July, 1895, and she sat for 

 fourteen days, when the male bird hunted her off the eggs, and sat the remainder of the period, 

 one young bird being hatched on the 21st September. The duration of incubation in this 

 instance was therefore twenty-six days. None of the other eggs were hatched, though six 

 were fertile, and contained fully developed dead chicks. Our experience is that the female 

 always sits a fortnight and then the male finishes the incubation. The best result we ever got 

 was by putting the eggs in the incubator a day or two before we expected them to hatch." 



Writing me on the 2nd October, 1897, Mr. lietts remarked :— " An Emu sat here this season 

 from the loth July to the i ith September, and hatched the birds; there were only two fertile 

 eggs, and both came out. The female sat all the time, because we shut her up, and no others 

 could get to her. Another hen limn is sitting in the open paddoclc. The cock occasionally 

 goes on the eggs when the hen comes off, and sits from twenty to forty minutes duration." 



It will be seen in the first instance that it took fifty-seven days before a young one was 

 hatched, and in the latter sixty-three days. 



May until September or October constitutes the normal breeding season. 



