[Case 4.) 
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12 BIRD GALLERY. 
Order V. CASUARITFORMES. Emus anp Cassowartss. 
In the two families (Dromeide and Casuariide) comprising this 
order the wings are still more reduced in size and the “fingers” are 
represented by one claw-bearing digit. The body-feathers have an 
aftershaft or accessory plume as long as the main feather. 
Family I. Dromaip®. Emus. 
The Emus agree with the Cassowaries in possessing a large after- 
shaft to the body-feathers, but the bill is broad and flat, the head and 
upper part of the neck have a scanty hair-like covering, and there is no 
horny casque or helmet or ornamental wattles. The wings are exceed- 
ingly small and, like the tail, entirely concealed beneath the general 
covering of feathers. The three toes have claws of similar form and 
nearly equal size. 
The only species surviving at the present time is the common Emu 
(Dromeus nove-hollandie) (9), which inhabits Australia. A small 
Black Emu (D. parvulus) was formerly found on the Island of Decrés 
or Kangaroo, but is now extinct and known only from two specimens 
preserved in the Paris Museum and from a skeleton in the Museum at 
Florence. It is possible that a third species existed within recent times, 
for the Tasmanian form was apparently distinct from the Australian 
species. These great birds frequent the desert sandy plains and open 
bush-districts, feeding on fruit, roots, and herbage; they are very keen- 
sighted, and, like their allies, run with great rapidity. Unlike the 
Rheas and Ostriches, they are monogamous, though found in small 
parties after the breeding-season. The female deposits her eggs, from 
seven to thirteen or more in number, in a hollow scratched in the 
ground, and the male performs the duties of incubation, which last for 
about eight weeks. The young are greyish-white, beautifully striped 
with black, and the eggs when first laid are of a rich sap-green, but 
this colour gradually fades to dull greenish-black. 
The female is rather smaller than the male, and both sexes possess a 
remarkable pouch formed by the inner lining of the windpipe. This 
pouch leaves the trachea through a slit in the anterior wall, and can be 
inflated at the will of the bird. The inflation is probably connected 
with the low, resonant, booming note uttered during the nesting-season. 
Owing to the constant persecution to which they are subjected, Emus 
are becoming scarcer year by year. Being hardy birds they are easily 
domesticated and breed readily in parks both in this country and in 
Europe. 
A fossil species occurs in the Pleistocene of Queensland and New 
South Wales. 
