214 EMEU 



.40^ 



without, so far as is known, any ornithologist having had the 

 opportunity of determining whether the race inhabiting those 

 localities was specifically identical with that of the mainland or 

 distinct.^ Next to the Ostrich the largest of existing birds, the 

 Emeu is an inhabitant of the more open country, feeding on 

 fruits, roots, and herbage, and generally keeping in small com- 

 panies. The nest is a shallow pit scraped in the ground, and from 

 nine to thirteen eggs, in colour varying from a light bluish -green 

 to a dark bottle-green, are laid therein. These are hatched by the 

 cock -bird, the period of incubation lasting from 70 to 80 days. 

 The young at birth are striped longitudinally with dark mark- 

 ings on a light gi'ound. A remarkable structure in Dromxus is a 

 singular opening in the front of the windpipe, communicating with 

 a tracheal pouch. This has attracted the attention of several 

 anatomists, and has been well described by Dr. Murie {Proc. Zool. 

 Soc. 1867, pp. 405-415).^ Various conjectures have been made as 

 to its function, the most probable of which seems to be that it is 

 an organ of sound in the breeding-season, at which time the hen- 

 bird has long been known to utter a remarkably loud booming 

 note. Due convenience being afforded to it, the Emeu thrives 

 well, and readily propagates its kind in Europe. Like the South 

 American Rhea it will take naturally to the water, and examples 

 have been seen voluntarily swimming a wide river.^ 



The existence in Australia of a second species of Dromseus had 

 long been suspected, and Broderip in 1842 stated (Penny Cyclop. 

 xxiii. p. 145) that Mr. Gould had even sujDplied a name {D. parvulus) 

 for it; but there can be little doubt that this suggestion was 

 founded on a mistake. However, in 1859 Mr. Bartlett described, 

 under the name of D. irroratus, what has since been generally 

 admitted to be a good species, and it now seems certain that 

 this fills in Western Australia the place occupied by the older- 

 known form in the eastern part. . It is a more slender bird, and 

 when adult has the feathers barred with white and dark-grey 

 ending in a black spot which has a rufous margin, while those of 

 D. iiovx-hollandix are of a uniform blackish grey from the base to 

 near the tip, which is black with a broad subterminal rufous band. 

 Both species have been figured from admirable drawings by Mr. 

 Wolf {Trans. Zool. Soc. iv. pis. 75, 76), and interesting particulars 

 as to their domestication in England are given by Mr. Harting 

 {Ostriches and Ostrich Farming, pp. 131-174). 



^ Latham [Gen. Hist. B. viii. p. 384, pi. 138) in 1823 described and absurdly- 

 figured what he called "Van Diemen's Cassowary" from one of two young birds 

 exhibited alive in Loudon ; but there is nothing to shew that they really came 

 from Tasmania, and as they were apparently the only Emeus he had ever seen, 

 he had no means of determining whether they differed from the Australian form. 



^ See also Gadow [Zoolog. Jahrh. v. pp. 636-638), and above, Air-sacs. 



