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THE


Avicultuiml Magazine,


BEING THE JOURNAL OF

THE AVICULTURAL SOCIETY

FOR THE STUDY OF

FOREIGN & BRITISH BIRDS

IN FREEDOM & CAPTIVITY.



Third Series.— Yol. X. No. 4. — All rightt reserved. FEBRUARY, 1919.


THE PASSING OF THE SPOTTED EMU: A

BIRD THAT NEVER EXISTED.


By Graham Kershaw, M.D., F.R.S.E.


I have seen tlie type-skin in the British Museum, and it is only a young Emu

of the ordinary variety.' - l>r. Le Soitef on the Spotted Emu.


On May 24th, 1859. the late Mr. A. I). Bartlett exhibited at a

meeting of the Zoological Society an Finn skin (being one of three

similar ones which had cotne under his notice) which differed markedly

from any other Emu then known to science, lie distinguished the

new bird from the common species, and in view of its minutely

spotted appearance, suggested that it should he known under the

name of Dronueus irroratus.


A few months later this zoological prize appeared in the flesh.

A living example—brought by a Dutch ship from Albany, King

George’s Sound, arrived safely at the Amsterdam Zoological Gardens.

It was soon examined by the late Dr. Sclater, Secretary of the Society,

who declared that the “ Spotted Emu differed from the common

iorm not only in its barred feathers but also in its more slender

build, its longer, thinner tarsi, and its longer toes. On observing

that a second bird had been sent to the Gardens at Rotterdam he

acquired it by exchange for the London Zoo, the Emu arriving in

excellent condition in the spring of 1860. Two more from the Swan


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