The Cassowary {Casuarlus galeatus) 

 By J. G. Wood 



■Length : About 45 inches. 



A large bird of the genus Casuarius, fcund in the East Indies. It is smaller 

 and stouter than the ostrich. Its head is armed with a kind of helmet of horny 

 substance, consisting of plates overlapping each other, and it has a group of long 

 sharp spines on each wing which are used as defensive organs. It is a shy bird 

 and runs with great rapidity. 



The plumage of the body is very hairlike, being composed of long and almost 

 naked shafts, two springing from the same tube, and one always being longer than 

 the other. At the roots of the shafts there is a small tuft of delicate down, suffi- 

 cientlv thick to supply a warm and soft inner garment, but yet so small as to be 

 hidden by the long hairlike plumage. Even the tail is furnished with tlie same 

 curious covering and the wings are clothed after a similar manner with the excep- 

 tion of five black, stiff, strong, pointed quills, very like the large quills of the por- 

 cupine, and being of dift'erent lengths, the largest not exceeding one foot, and gen- 

 erally being much battered about the point. When stripped of its feathers, the 

 whole wing extends only some three inches in length, and is evidently a mere 

 indication of the limb. 



The food of this bird in a wild state consists of herbage and various fruits, 

 and in captivity it is fed on bran, apples, carrots and similar substances, and is sai 1 

 to drink nearly half a gallon of water per diem. 



The robin, the forerunner of the Spring, 

 The bluebird with his jocund caroling, 

 The restless swallows building in the eaves, 

 The golden buttercups, the grass, the leaves, 

 The lilacs tossing in the winds of May, 

 All welcome this majestic holiday. 



Longfellow. 



792 



