392 



GRALLATOEES, OR WADING BIRDS. 



reason for thinking that these birds might be successfully accli- 

 mated in Europe. 



The Cassowaries form a genus of birds allied to the Ostrich, 

 although they diifer from it in some particulars — their shape is 

 not so elegant, and their wings are even less adapted for flight ; 



Fig. 155. — Cassowary (Utrut/ao casuariiis, Liiin.). 



for so short are they, that they are perfectly useless even to 

 assist in running. Their long blackish feathers are almost devoid 

 of side fringes, which gives them a resemblance to coarse hair ; 

 their feet are provided with three toes. This bird was called 

 the Emu by early Portuguese navigators. It is the ^trutldo 

 casuarhis of Linnaeus, the Casuarius galeatus of Yieillot, and the 

 Cassowary of British naturalists. 



The Cassowary has a kind of helmet on its head, produced by 

 an enlargement of the bone of the skull, and covered with a horny 

 substance. It is a massively-made bird, in size between the 

 Ostrich and the Ehea, and is a native of the islands of the Indian 



