SOME STRUTHIOUS BIRDS 



THE CASSOWARY AND THE EMU 

 There is really no such thing as the cassowary at 

 present, but there was so long ago as the very beginning 

 of the seventeenth century, when the first live bird of 

 this genus Casuarius was brought home and exhibited 

 alive in Amsterdam. We now know of quite eight 

 " good " species, and systematists would increase, as 

 is their wont, even this respectable number to twenty in 

 all, including those dubious creations of the naturalist, 

 " sub-species." A fine series of cassowaries has been 

 on view at the Zoo for some years past, the collection 

 being due to the energy of the Hon. Walter Rothschild, 

 to whom most of the birds belong. The veriest tyro 

 would rightly place these birds in the neighbourhood 

 of the ostrich, the emu, and the rhea among the 

 struthious birds in fact ; and that is unquestionably 

 their place in the system. Their nearest ally 

 is the emu, and the two genera were at one time con- 

 founded. Now we regard them as distinct. The 

 cassowaries differ from the emu by the horny black 

 casque upon the head, by the enormously lengthened 

 nail of the innermost of the three toes, and by the 

 stiff spine-like feathers of the wing, which are ordinary 

 feathers devoid of barbs, and finally by the very gay 

 colours, red, yellow, blue, purple, and green, about the 

 head and neck. Besides, the cassowaries are not 

 Australian birds exactly since only one species is 

 found in that island continent, and then only in the 

 north ; they inhabit New Guinea and such islands in 

 the neighbourhood as Ceram, New Britain, etc. Un- 

 like the ostrich, the cassowary is a forest living fowl, 

 and it has been said that its casque is of use in this 

 habitat. Rushing wildly through the bush the head is 

 held down and the entrapping brambles glide off the 

 polished surface of the helmet. The black feathers of 

 the adult bird are preceded by brown feathers in the 



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