nS HON. W. ROTHSCHILD ON THE GENUS CASUAEIUS. 



1'28 : 89 mm. It is, however, not ascertained that it is an egg of C. c. beccarii, which, 

 as we know, is not the only Cassowary living in the Aru group. That the eggs of any 

 Cassowary are more transparent than those of any other species is evidently not the case. 



•". Casuarilts casuarius sclateri Salvad. D'Albertis's Cassowary. 

 LSM. Casuarius sp. S. MiilL, Land- en Volkenkunde, p. 22 (Utanata, Princess Marianne Strait). 

 1875, Casuarius heccarii (non ante:\, p. 87, quod Aru!) Scl., Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond. p. 527, 

 pi. Iviii. (S. New Guinea) ; 



1880. Casuarius beccarii (non Scl., P. Z. S. 1875, p. 87 !) D'Albertis, Nuova Guinea, pp. 491, 588 ; 



1881. Salvador!, Mem. R. Ac. Sc. Torino, (2) sxxiv. p. 197 (partim : New Guinea only), pi. i. fig. 5 ; 



1882. Id., Oni. Papuas. e Molucc. iii. p. 484. (partim : New Guinea only !) ; 

 1895. Id., Cat. B. Brit. Mus. xxvii. p. 59G (partim: New Guinea only). 



1877. Casuarius australis (non Wall !) D'Albertis, ' Sydney Mail,' p. 145; id., Ann. Mus. Civ. 



Genova, x. p. 19 (Fly River) ; id., Ibis, p. 372. 



1878. Casuarius sclateri Salvad., Ann. ^NIus. Civ. Gen. xii. p. 422 (coast opposite to Touan or 



Cornwallis Island, S.E. New Guinea) ; A. B. Meyer, Journ. f. Orn. p. 300; 



1879. Sharpe, Ibis, p. 116 (type now preserved in Brit. Mus. !). 



Adult. Casque dull brown, very high and much compressed laterally, very thin, and 

 wjien fully adult curved over to one side. Bill long and stout, black. Wattles very 

 large and long, sometimes over 7 inches, but in the old birds they get t(n'ii and 

 damaged either in fighting or wlien creeping through the thick scrub, so that often 

 they are very short or split into a number of ragged ribbon-like appendages. This is 

 well illustrated in the series of iigurcs of D'Albertis's fine specimens in Count Salva- 

 dori's monograph. This is the Lirgest form of the C. casuarius group and also the 

 largest Cassowary, standing, when erect, as mucli as 6 feet high and the body being 

 fully half as big again as that of an Emu [Droma'us). Plumage black, head and 

 occiput pale whitish blue. Fore-neck and nape brilliant indigo-blue. Hind-neck of 

 a most intense bright scarlet. Naked lower sides of the neck, posterior § brilliant 

 scarlet, anterior ^ bright blue. Total length about IGOO mm., bill from gape 130 to 

 140 and even 145 mm., tarsus 280 to 300 mm., inner claw SO to 95 mm. 



Juv. (two-thirds grown). Plumage dark brown, often nearly as black as adult, also 

 occasionally pale yellowish brown. Fore-neck leaden blue ; head and occiput pale 

 blue. Hind-neck dull orange-yellow. Naked lower sides of neck, anterior ^ blue, 

 posterior f yellow. 



Chick. Head and neck dark rufous, variegated with black bands and spots. 

 Longitudinal dorsal bands A'ery broad, about 1| inches wide, black, slightly variegated 

 with rufous, and 5 in number — /. e., a central one and two lateral pairs ; one band on 

 fiank extending down the thigh on each side, and a second one indicated by a number 

 of dark brown irregular spots. 



JIab. Southern New Guinea from Port Moresby to the Princess Marianne Strait, 

 iuid perliaps even up to McCluer's Inlet. 



I have had several examples of this bird alive, though none quite adult. They 



