214 EMEU 
without, so far as is known, any ornithologist having had the 
opportunity of determining whether the race inhabiting those 
localities was specifically identical with that of the mainland or 
distinct! Next to the OsrricH the largest of existing birds, the 
Emeu is an inhabitant of the more open country, feeding on 
fruits, roots, and herbage, and generally keeping in small com- 
panies. The nest is a shallow pit scraped in the ground, and from 
nine to thirteen eggs, in colour varying from a light bluish-green 
to a dark bottle-green, are.laid therein. ‘These are hatched by the 
cock-bird, the period of incubation lasting from ##=8486- days. 
The young at birth are striped longitudinally with dark mark- 
ings on a light ground. A remarkable structure in Dromzxus is a 
singular opening in the front of the windpipe, communicating with 
a tracheal pouch. This has attracted the attention of several 
anatomists, and has been well described by Dr. Murie (Proc. Zool. 
Soc. 1867, pp. 405-415).2 Various conjectures have been made as 
to its function, the most probable of which seems to be that it is 
an organ of sound in the breeding-season, at which time the hen- 
bird has long been known to utter a remarkably loud booming 
note. Due convenience being afforded to it, the Emeu thrives 
well, and readily propagates its kind in Europe. Like the South 
American RuHEA it will take naturally to the water, and examples 
have been seen voluntarily swimming a wide river. (Rhee alse swims eivees) 
The existence in Australia of a second species of Dromxus had 
long been suspected, and Broderip in 1842 stated (Penny Cyclop. 
xxi. p. 145) that Mr. Gould had even supplied a name (D. parvulus) 
for it; but there can be little doubt that this suggestion was 
founded on a mistake. However, in 1859 Mr. Bartlett described, 
under the name of D. irroratus, what has since been generally 
admitted to be a good species, and it now seems certain that 
this fills in Western Australia the place occupied by the older- 
known form in the eastern part. It is a more slender bird, and 
when adult has the feathers barred with white and dark-grey 
ending in a black spot which has a rufous margin, while those of 
D. novx-hollandix are of a uniform blackish grey from the base to 
near the tip, which is black with a broad subterminal rufous band. 
Both species have been figured from admirable drawings by Mr. 
Wolf (Trans. Zool. Soc. iv. pls. 75, 76), and interesting particulars 
as to their domestication in England are given by Mr. Harting 
(Ostriches and Ostrich Farming, pp. 131-174). 
1 Latham (Gen. Hist. B. viii. p. 884, pl. 138) in 1828 described and absurdly 
figured what he called ‘‘ Van Diemen’s Cassowary ” from one of two young birds 
exhibited alive in London; but there is nothing to shew that they really came 
from Tasmania, and as they were apparently the only Emeus he had ever seen, 
he had no means of determining whether they differed from the Australian form, 
2 Sce also Gadow (Zoolog. Jahrb. v. pp. 636-638), and above, AIR-SACs. 
