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Dr. Graham Renshaw,



exhibited alive in Europe. The Australian cassowary (C. australis)

is another well-known species, of large size and striking appearance:

it is remarkable for the great development of the helmet and wattles.

Amongst one-wattled cassowaries the Casuarius uniappendiculatus

is the best known ; the first recorded specimen was a captive bird

living at Calcutta in 1859. The single wattle is situated in the

middle line of the neck, the hare skin contiguous being of a fine

golden yellow colour. The first example to arrive in Europe was a

young bird, exhibited in 1860 at the Amsterdam Zoological Gardens ;

it laid an egg which is now in the British Museum. In 1911

another specimen was living in the collection at Rotterdam. The

Bennett cassowary or mooruk (C. bennetti) is a good example of the

non-wattled group : although not so handsome as most of its con¬

geners, the tameness and good temper of this species render it a

very desirable pet.


The writer has recently studied a subadult female of the

violet-necked cassowary (C. violicollis)— a small but local species

supposed to inhabit the island of Trongan. The bird was about

three-fourths grown : the bare parts of the head were bluish like an

emu’s, brighter at the outer canthus of the eye and immediately

below the ear. The helmet appeared as a grooved keel on the

summit of the cranium : posteriorly it already showed the peculiar

yellowish horny hue characteristic of the species. The wattles

though small were recognisable, united at their bases and of a

fleshy colour: a bare tract of purple skin was seen amongst the

long feathers of the neck. This bird well exhibited the position

of the legs which characterises cassowaries and emus : the body

seemed as if accurately balanced on the top of two supple columns.

The specimen was curious and inquisitive, like all its race : it uttered

croaking notes and also a choking, coughing grunt. When squatted

down it still grunted, as if talking to itself, and pecked playfully at

the earth on which it crouched. The croaking grunt of this species

is uttered by forcibly expelling air through the almost closed beak.

The violet-necked cassowary feeds in the usual manner of struthious

birds —by seizing the food as with a forceps, and jerking it back¬

wards down the throat. The present example was in fine condition

and apparently acclimatised, since it would stroll unconcernedly



