on cassoiuanes.



85



about its yard in a cutting east wind. The plumage (fulvous suffused

with black) was very curious. It looked as if the black was being

worn off, exposing a fulvous ground colour beneath : whereas it was

really the fulvous and not the black which was being replaced.


Cassowaries are vegetarians, and can easily be kept on a diet

of chopped bread, carrots, and dates. On the Continent at any rate

they can be wintered like rheas without artificial heat. In the

Berlin Zoological Gardens, however, they are kept in a superb

ostrich house, built in ornate style like an Egyptian temple, and

gay with mural paintings. The series at Berlin is very good : in

1903 it included Casuarius casuctrius (Ceram) and C. australis (N.

Queensland), with a two-wattled chick of undetermined species : also

C. uniappendiculatus (N. W. New Guinea) and two subspecies

named occipitalis and aurantiacus respectively. These two latter

are very handsome forms, the bright yellow hues of the neck being

set off by vivid patches of blue and bluish green. There was also

a Bennett cassowary or mooruk ( C . bennetti) and the rare Heck’s

cassowary (C. hecki), the latter being the only known example of

its species. In Amsterdam the birds are merely housed in roomy

sheds, with free access to outdoor yards. At Rotterdam their

installation is very tasteful, consisting as it does of a pretty rustic

house, with ornamental roofs and gables, and yards for exercise in

front.


Although the high price and comparative rarity of all casso¬

waries is a great hindrance to a full study of their life history, some

small success has been obtained in breeding them. For this purpose

the best species is the Bennett cassowary or mooruk, which is not so

savage .and quarrelsome as its congeners. Thus a pair received at

the London Zoological Gardens in 1858 bred several times, the male

incubating the eggs. After seven weeks sitting a chick was hatched

on September 4, 1862, but it was unfortunately killed by rats the

following night. On June 17, 1863, another chick made its appear¬

ance, after an incubation of fifty-two days : this was weakly and

only lived twelve hours. On June 20, 1864, a third chick was

hatched, being joined on June 22 by a fourth, and both of these did

well, being looked after by the male parent.



