36 NEORNITHES RATITAE CHAP. 
erossed with ease, and in the absence of other bathing-places the 
sea is often utilised. The note in a state of excitement is a sort 
of grunt or snort, the eall to the young being of a lowing nature ; 
but the ordinary voice is loud, guttural, and unearthly, consisting 
of quickly-repeated croaking sounds, lasting for as long as three 
minutes, and audible at a distance of a mile, or considerably 
more. The female is much quieter, while the “Mooruk” (C. 
bennetti) is stated to utter a low scolding or plaintive whistle. 
A rough nest of leaves and grass is formed in a depression of the 
soil, generally below bushes or tangled undergrowth, in which 
from three to six very large eggs are deposited, placed in the 
shape of the letter V. These are normally light green in ground 
colour, with close-set granulations of dark bright green ; but one, 
if not more, is ordinarily of a perfectly smooth texture, and is 
therefore entirely hight green. The cock incubates, it appears, 
solely, though some say that the hen takes her turn; and the 
former tends the young when hatched, the period of sitting 
being about seven weeks. The nest is said to be covered by the 
parent if left for a time, but this is uncertain, as is the use of 
the two or three eggs scattered round the nest, which are asserted 
by natives of widely-distant districts to furnish food for the chicks. 
After breeding, small flocks are formed in some cases, possibly by 
the combination of two famihes. The Ceram species, which seems 
to have been called “ Emeu” or “Ema” by the early Portuguese 
navigators, often lays in captivity, while C. bennettc has bred 
in the gardens of the Zoological Society of London. 
Fossil remains occur in Austraha.  Hypselornis sivalensis is 
an allied form from the Phocene of the Siwalik Hills in India. 
Fam. II. Dromaeidae.—From about the beginning of this cen- 
tury the name “ Emeu,” used, as mentioned above, in varying form for 
both the Rhea and the Cassowary, has been restricted to the genus 
Dromaeus, the members of which stand more than five feet high, 
though lower on their legs than an Ostrich. D. novae-hollandiae 
of the interior of Eastern Australia, which extended in times past 
to Tasmania and the islands in Bass’s Straits, is blackish grey, with 
black tips to the plumage. JD. irroratus, a more slender species 
from West, and probably the adjoining parts of South, Australia, 
has each feather transversely barred with dark grey and white, 
and a rufous margin to the black patch at the end. Young birds 
in down are greyish-white, with longitudinal blackish streaks above, 
