204 CASUARIUS CASUARIUS BISTRIATUS. 



NOTE XIX. 



ON AN APPARENTLY NEW FORM OP CASUARIUS 

 PROM THE NORTHCOAST OP NEW GUINEA 



BY 



Dr. E. D. VAN OORT. 



(With plate 8). 



In 1904 Mr. J. W. van Nouhuys, the commander of the 

 steamer which brought the Wichmann-expedition in 1903 

 along the northcoast of New Guinea to the Humboldt Bay, 

 presented to the Zoological Garden at Rotterdam a young 

 cassowary; this bird lived there till May 1907, when it 

 died and when it was, by the kindness of Dr. Büttikofer, 

 the director of the Garden, sent to our Museum. The bird, a 

 male, is now at least four years old; it is full-grown, though 

 its plumage is not yet entirely black, but here and there, 

 and especially between the so-called tailfeathers, some brown 

 feathers are still to be seen. With a few words Mr. Lorentz 

 makes mention of this bird in his narrative ^) of the ex- 

 pedition, but he does not say, where the bird was caught. 

 As Mr. van Nouhuys and also Mr. Lorentz are at present 

 again on New Guinea, I asked the other zoologist of the 

 expedition, Mr. L. F. de Beaufort, if he could tell me where 

 the bird was obtained. This gentleman most kindly informed 

 me, that the bird is originating from the northcoast of 

 New Guinea, west of the Humboldt Bay, very probably 

 from Tarfia near the Matterer Bay, but this he did not 

 remember with certainty. I hope to learn later the exact 

 locality from Mr. van Nouhuys. 



Our specimen belongs to the Casuarius caswan'ws-group 

 and as to the wattles it most resembles Casuarius casuarius 

 beecarii, under which name I have mentioned the bird in 



1) H. A. Lorentz, Eenige maanden onder de Papoea's, Leiden 1905, p. 78. 

 Notes from the Leyden Museum, Vol. XXIX. 



