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Society delineated.' " In size and bulk the Emu is exceeded 

 by the African Ostrich alone. Its average measurement may 

 be estimated at between five and six feet in height. In form 

 it closely resembles the Ostrich, but is lower on the legs, 

 shorter in the neck, and of a more thick-set and clumsy make. 

 At a distance its feathers have more the appearance of hair than 

 of plumage, their barbs being all loose and separate. As in 

 the Ostriches, they take their origin by pairs from the same 

 shaft. The wings are so extremely small as to be quite in- 

 visible when applied to the surface of the body. They are 

 clothed with feathers exactly similar to those of the back, 

 which divide from a middle line and fall gracefully over on 

 either side." 



Its flesh has been compared to coarse beef, which it re- 

 sembles, according to Mr. Cunningham, " both in appearance 

 and taste, and is good and sweet eating ; nothing indeed can 

 be more delicate than the flesh of the young ones. There is 

 but little fit for culinary use upon any part of the Emu, except 

 the hind-quarters, which are of such dimensions that the 

 shouldering of two hind-legs homewards for a mile distance 

 once proved to me as tiresome a task as I ever recollect to 

 have encountered in the colony." I may remark that its flesh 

 proved of the greatest service to Dr. Leichhardt and his 

 intrepid companions during their overland route from More- 

 ton Bay to Port Essington, in the course of which, but more 

 particularly between the head of the Gulf of Carpentaria and 

 Port Essington, the sight and capture of the Emu was almost 

 a daily occurrence ; so abundant in fact was it, that he states 

 he saw in the short space of eight miles at least a hundred, 

 in flocks of three, five, ten, and even more, at a time. Dr. 

 Leichhardt mentions that the natives on kilhng an Emu in- 

 variably break the wings — why, he was at a loss to conceive, 

 as they could but slightly assist the animal in making its 

 escape, should it survive ; some curious practices also exist 

 with respect to this bird among the natives, the particulars of 



