GRALLATORES. 203 



The note of the Emu is a low booming or pumping noise, 

 which we know is produced in the female by means of the 

 expansion and contraction of a large membranous bag, sur- 

 rounding an oblong opening through the rings of the trachea ; 

 but whether this peculiarity of structure is also to be found 

 in the male I am not aware. 



They pair with tolerable constancy, and the male bird 

 appears to take a lage share in the task of incubation. 



The eggs, which are merely placed in a cavity scooped in the 

 earth, generally in a sandy soil, are six or seven in number, 

 of a beautiful dark green, resembling shagreen in appear- 

 ance ; five inches and three-quarters in length by three inches 

 and three-quarters in breadth. They are held in much esteem 

 by the natives, who feed upon them whenever they can be 

 procured. 



Little or no difference of colour is observable in the 

 sexes; but I believe the female is always smaller than the 

 male. 



The entire plumage is of a dull brown, mottled, particularly 

 on the under surface, with dirty grey ; the feathers of the 

 head and neck becoming gradually shorter, and so thinly 

 placed that the purplish hue of the skin of the throat and 

 round the ears is perfectly visible ; irides brown ; bill and legs 

 dusky black. 



The young on first quitting the shell have a very elegant 

 appearance, the ground-colour being greyish white, with two 

 longitudinal broad black stripes along the back, and two 

 others on each side, each subdivided by a narrow middle 

 line of white ; these stripes being continued along the neck 

 without subdivision and broken into irregular spots on the 

 head ; two other broken stripes pass down the fore-part of 

 the neck and breast and terminate in a broad band across the 

 thighs. 



