KAi;i,Y IIISTOKV (iK Till' A I'STKAI.IAX CASSOWAKY NOKTH. 43 



in the iiortliem pai't of Australia lias Ixm'h known foi' manv 

 _years, from native ornaments in wliicli (Vissowary featliei's 

 form apart, and from tlie re])ort df the sui'vivin-s of Kennedy's 

 Exjtedition, wlio state they actually sliot one of tliose birds. 

 Mr. W. S. Wall, late Curator oF this Museum, has even (^-one 

 so far as to g-ive a very brief description in a defunct Sydnev 

 newspaper, published in June 1854. ({onld has quoted tliis 

 description in liis 'Handbook on the Birds oF Australia,' 

 acceptino- the name proposed by Wall, of rn^/mriiis ansfndil, 

 t}iou,e:li Wall's description (?) was founded on nothinj? more 

 than the reniai'ks of one of Kennedy's men, that they had sliot 

 a bii'd unlike an Kniu with wiry featliers and a top-knot or 

 helmet." 



"The brief account which Wall ^/ixe^ us is as follows .- — 

 'The body thickly covered witli dark-brown wir^- featliers ; on 

 the head is a larofe prominence or helmet of a bright red 

 colour, and to the neck are attached like bells six or eight 

 round fleshy balls of bright blue and scarlet.'" Mr. Carron 

 who gave some notes to Wall about this bird, has assured me 

 that this specimen had no red helmet, that its plumage was 

 not brown, but black, and that it was not true that twelve 

 hungry men made a meal off a single leg, and had enough and 

 some to spare. So much therefore for this very vague account 

 quoted by Mr. Gould. 



" The Cassowary which I am now about to describe was 

 presented to the Australian Museum by Mr. G. Randall 

 Johnson, who informs me that it was shot by him Avhen on a 

 visit to Messrs. Scott and Go's. Herbert Station, iji the Gowrie 

 Creek Scrub, near Rockingham Bay. Mr. Johnson has furnished 

 me with a description of the appearance of the fleshy part of 

 of the neck in the living bird, and is anxious to see some 

 former statements made by him through Dr. Ferd. Mueller 

 corrected ; and as the newspaper account given by Dr. Mueller 

 will probably be quoted by other writers, 1 call "the attention 

 of the Fellows of this Society to the fact that it contains many 

 inaccuracies. 



" When announcing the discovery of a Cassowary, Dr. 

 Mueller suggested that, if new, it should be named in honour 

 of the discoverer ; and acting upon this suggestion T be"- to 

 propose the name of ('mKurius Joluixau! for it." Here folfows 

 Krefft's description of the bird described under this name. 



