242



Reviews , Notices , etc.



THE BEACK EMEU.


Dr. Graham Reushaw deserves the thanks of ornithologists

for the trouble he has taken to bring to light all that is known of

the long-since extinct Black Emeu of Kangaroo Island ; and

his article on this subject in the March number of the Zoologist

is of great interest. The Black Emeu (.Dromceus ater ) was a little

larger than a Bustard ; brownish black in colour, and with a

curious over-development of the plumage, “the elongated

feathers hanging loosely about it, as if too ample for the body

which they covered.”


The history of the species is best told in Dr. Renshaw’s

own words:—“In 1803 a French scientific expedition under

Captain Baudin landed on Kangaroo Island. Baudin himself

took a great interest in natural history, and had sent a rich

collection of specimens—both zoological and botanical—to the

Jardin des Plantes only a few years previously, On one

occasion he had the valuable assistance of Peron, the celebrated

zoologist, and it is to the work of this expedition that scientific

Europe is indebted for almost all its knowledge of the Black

Emeu. Kangaroo Island w r as uninhabited by man, but abounded

in the marsupials from which it took its name, and there were

also a great number of D. ater —‘ Casoars,’ as the Frenchmen

called them. By a happy chance it was determined, if possible,

to bring away some of the pigmy Emeus alive; had it

not been for this haphazard resolution, the species we are

now considering would probably never have been known

at all to naturalists. Three birds were taken alive, and it speaks

well for the intelligent care taken of them during the voyage

home that they all arrived safely at Paris in 1804-5. One of

these Emeus was placed in the menagerie of the Jardin des

Plantes, where it continued to thrive for many years; the other

two, with a zebra, a monkey, and a large collection of plants,

were destined for the Empress Josephine. The Empress’s

Emeus were sent to her residence of Ea Malmaison, and, at their

death, one of them—indeed, probably both—was placed in the

Jardin des Plantes Museum.”


One or two living specimens seem to have reached Eondon



