The Covimon Bhea.



1G1



afterwards. I fed my Rheas the same as the Emeus, on grass, grain,

roots, bread, fruits, Indian corn, dog biscuits broken up, cabbage,

lettuce, chopped turnips, and carrots.


The chicks were given a mixture consisting of the following:

Coarse chicken meal (scalded), ground meal, crissel (scalded), cardiac

powder (Spratt’s), about two teaspoonsful to twelve chicks (increase

the quantity as they grow older), mix well together and dry out to

a crumbly state with barley meal, chopped lettuce, any insect food

such as clean gentles, dried flies, and ants’ eggs.


There are besides tbe common Rhea, Darwin’s Rhea ( Rliea

Danvinii), less common, distinguished by its smaller size, shorter

legs, less uniformly coloured plumage, and pale-green eggs; and the

long-billed Rhea ( Rhea macrorhyncha ) of Northern Brazil—also a

small species, characterized by its longer beak, larger and more

flattened head feathers, longer body feathers, and more slender legs,

as well as by the general darker colouring, which is brownish-grey

mingled with black.



THE EMEU


(Dromceus nova-hollandice ).


By J. K. Butter, M.D.


The Emeu is next in size to the African Ostrich : the word

Emeu originally came from a Portuguese word, emea, meaning

a crane, and then any large bird, now by common consent restricted

to the latter. The Emeus are entirely restricted to Australia and

some of the adjacent islands, and are distinguished by the absence of

a helmet, such as adorns the head of the Cassowary ; the complete

feathering of the head and neck, unless at its upper part, which is

bluish in colour; and the normal length of the claw of the second

toe, the claws of all three toes being much shorter than in the allied

genus. Emeus are further characterized by the beak being depressed

and broad. The wing is very small and rudimentary. The common

Emeu has the general hue of the plumage light brown, mottled in

some parts with grey, except near the tips of the feathers, where



