Emu and Ostrich Fakmin*}. 55 



throes in which the birds were in the habit of indulging. The 

 hint was generally taken, and the visitors delighted, though no 

 extra charg-e was made for the exhibition. 



We have all heard of some folks having the " digestion of an 

 ostrich." As the subjects of this paper are of the same order of 

 birds, their powers of digestion are ecjually good. A good 

 appetite and a g-ood digestion are blessings to poor suffering- 

 humanity, but we must not be jealous if the miscellaneous sub- 

 stances in which Emus delight are beyond our powers. One day 

 the carpenter came to repair the fence, and he told me he had 

 seen " thae queer birds, the 'A-moos,' busy swallowing chips of 

 wood." He intimated this discovery with as much pride as Columbus 

 might have done when he discovered America, but I, being quite 

 aware of this propensity, was not much astonished. A few 

 minutes later he proceeded to the place where he had deposited 

 his bass of tools to get some nails, a paper parcel of which he had 

 previously opened and placed beside his bass. When he found 

 the paper empty he asked me if I had "lifted" them, strong'ly 

 suspecting me of kleptomania. When I asked him if he had seen 

 the " A-moos" near his bass he said he had, and I very soon told 

 him where his nails had gone. He seemed to think I was 

 "e-musing" myself at his expense, and stared at me incredulously, 

 as much as to say, " I'm no' that easily gulled," but when I 

 pointed out " Tommy " at that moment struggling in the vain 

 endeavour to swallow his chisel he was convinced, and remarked 

 that " there micht be something in't." Whether he meant in the 

 fact or inside the bird I failed to learn. Everything is " grist that 

 comes to their mill," whether it be nails, coals, potsherds, small china 

 dolls, or collars and cuffs. Many a tear has been dropped by 

 members of the household over the loss of the latter, as well as 

 other small articles of female attire, when the birds got access to 

 the bleaching green. Their curiosity, or I should say their 

 inquisitiveness, equals their voracity, and I could give many 

 instances of this propensity generally, though I believe wrongly, 

 attributed to the human female, but one will suffice. On one 

 occasion the nurse was crossing their enclosure, carrying in her 

 arms one of the children, then a baby in long clothes. This was 

 too much for " Jenny," who wished to see what the bundle con- 

 sisted of. The nurse was already sufficiently alarmed by the 

 proximity of the '' two monsters," but her terror was increased 



