ol. VI. 



1907 



] Lkggk, The Emus of Tasm-inia and King Island. 117 



The distribution of the remaining species of Cassowary, in- 

 ckiding the Australian bird, located at no great distance from 

 its nearest congener in British New Guinea, and the more distant 

 form inhabiting New Britain, need not be dealt with after what 

 has been said regarding the restricted habitat of the Western 

 Papuan Casuanidce. 



It is reasonable to assume that in any portion of temperate 

 Australia which can be looked upon as being, or having been 

 in former times, the " focus " of the distribution of members of 

 the allied family Z>r6'///c^/(:fe, their respective habitats would be as 

 restricted as those of their tropical relatives the Cassowaries. 



The Emus have been distributed in recent times from North- 

 West Australia to Tasmania, and the farther south they ranged 

 the more numerous presumably were their species, until we find 

 evidences of four being located in the south of the continent and 

 its islands. 



The Dromceiis of Kangaroo Island, now unfortunately extinct, 

 was only known to inhabit that localit}', and the Tasmanian 

 species has been considered to be distinct from the continental 

 D, nov(E-hollandi(B on account of the size of the ^g^. 



As regards the former, it may be interesting to members of 

 the A.O.U. to hear that during the "forties" the Tasmanian Emu 

 used to inhabit, and bred regularly in, a locality known as 

 Kearney's Bogs. This upland moor was part of the Rockfort 

 estate, owned then by the writer's father-in-law, iVTajor W. Gray, 

 94th Regiment. It is situated about twelve miles to the south 

 of Avoca, in a portion of the Eastcoast Ranges, which flank the 

 valley of the St. Paul's River. One of the shepherds of the 

 estate, H. Wyburn, was resident at the bogs, and used not 

 infrequently to bring eggs to the house, and about the year 1845 

 succeeded in capturing two young birds, which were conveyed to 

 Rockfort and reared in the goose-yard. They lived about the 

 homestead for several years, and were tame and mischievous, 

 coming to the open "French" windows of the dining-room to be 

 fed, thrusting their heads into the room at times. Mrs. Legge, 

 who was then a young girl, has vivid recollections of these Emus, 

 and avers that they were large birds very similar to the Emu of 

 the continent. Some years afterwards a pair of Tasmanian 

 Emus, which I am of opinion were also brought from Kearney's 

 Bogs, were kept at the Tullochgorum estate, not far from Avoca, 

 and the appearance of these birds, as they ran along the fence of 

 their enclosure, near the road, is firmly impressed on my recollec- 

 tion as a boy. They were slightly smaller* than the average 

 example of D. iiovcE-Jiollandice, but must, from the accounts given 

 of D. (iter of Kangaroo Island, have been larger than that bird 



* This is sliown hy the dimensions of the egg in Mr. J. W. Mellor's possession, 

 which, however, is broader 13.5 inches} than some of the Australian limu's eggs. 



