2 Dr. H. H. Giglioli on a Specimen 



They returned at the end of 1802, and during the month 

 of January 1803 the island was thoroughly explored. It 

 was found to be arid, nearly devoid of water, and covered 

 with scanty " bush.'' Not a single human being Avas met 

 Avith, but the Frenchmen were struck with the large number 

 of Kangaroos and Emeus living on that desolate spot : " On 

 voyoit accourir du fond des bois de grandes troupes de 

 Kanguroos et de Casoars, qui alloient demander k I'Ocean 

 une boisson que la Terre leur refusoit sans doute." And 

 further on Peron writes : ^' Mais de tous les oiseaux que 

 rile Decres regut en partage de la Nature, les plus utiles 

 k I'homme sont les Casoars : ces gros animaux paroissent 

 exister sur Tile en troupes nombreuses ; mais comme ils 

 sont tres agiles h. la course, et que nous mimes peu de soin 

 k les ehasser, nous ne pumes nous en procurer que trois 

 individus vivans." 



P^ron, in the narrative of the expedition, besides the 

 above quotations, describes the Emeu found on Kangaroo 

 Island ; and in the accompanying Atlas gives a fair plate 

 representing the male, female, and young *. The three 

 living specimens captured on L'lle Decres were evidently 

 hardy birds ; they reached Paris safely on the return of 

 Baudin's expedition in 1804, and were presented to the 

 Emperor Napoleon. One was placed in the Menagerie at 

 the Jardin des Plantes ; the other two were sent to " La Mal- 

 maison," where the Empress Josephine then held her court. 



Two of these birds certainly lived until 1822, when one 

 of them was mounted entire and placed in the Ornitho- 

 logical Gallery of the Parisian "Museum"; the other was 

 prepared as a skeleton, which was placed in the Comparative 

 Anatomy department of the same Museum. I have examined 

 both of them. The third specimen disappeared, or, at least, 

 no mention is made of its ultimate fate; but of that anon. 



Peron was evidently under the impression that his bird 

 was identical with the " Casoar de la Nouvelle Hollande," 



* P(5ron et Freycinet, ' Voyage de d(?couvevtes aux Terres Australes, 

 1800-1804,' tome i. p. 326, tome ii. pp. 71-78; Atlas, pis. xxxvi., xli, 

 (Paris, 1807-1816). 



