[ 55 ] 



It had three toes on each foot, and these were each furnished with 

 nearly equal claws. The head and neck were covered with feathers, 

 the throat being bare, the plumage of the body, closely resembling 

 long hairs, hung down on each side of the body, from a central line 

 or parting. These birds, at one time abundant in Australia, were 

 now becoming extinct, for natives and Europeans were fast thinning 

 them, the former eating the eggs and hunting down the emeus for 

 food, but not allowing boys or women to partake of it, the flesh 

 being reserved for warrioi's and counsellors. Europeans and settlers 

 ran it with dogs, trained on purpose, for food, sport, and also ft)r a 

 valuable oil, of which as much as six or seven quarts were yielded 

 by a single emeu. This oil was of a light yellow colour, was used 

 as an embrocation for bruises or strains, and not readily congealing 

 or becoming glutinous, was also useful for oiling the locks of fire- 

 arms. They were monogamous, the male performing the office of 

 incubation ; the nest was made by scooping out a shallow hole in 

 the ground, in some scrubby spot, and in this depression a variable 

 number of eggs was laid. Dr. Bennett remarked that "there is 

 always an odd numbei", some nests having been discovered with 

 nine, others with eleven, and others with thirteen." These eggs 

 were nearly as large as those of the ostrich, but of a dark green 

 colour, and the young, when first hatched, were elegantly striped 

 with black and grey. In defending itself it did not kick forward 

 like the ostrich, but sideways and backwards like a cow. 



THE CASSOWARY AND THE MOOEUK. 



The Cassowaries, of which there were at least two— the 

 Cassowary proper, Casuarius Guleatus, and the Mooruk, Casuarius 

 Benettii — were natives of the Eastern Archipelago. The former, 

 standing 5ft. high, was distinguished by the possession of a peculiar 

 horny crest or helmet upon the head, by the wings being furnished, 

 instead of feathers, with about five cylindrical stalks, destitute T)f 

 barbs, and by the large size of the claw on the inner toe. The head 

 and neck were naked and wattled, and of a bright red, variegated 

 with blue. The rest of the body, which was very stout, was clothed 

 with long glossy black pendant feathers, more closely resembling 

 hair than those of the emeu. It fed upon herbs, fruit, and seeds, 

 and, like the ostrich, swallowed hard subs,tances. The eggs were of 

 a greenish tint. The eye was fierce and resolute, and the character 



