THE AVIAN SYRINX 



immature, and by a striped back in the very young, 

 bird. The gaudy colours of the neck are sometimes con- 

 tinued into one median and one or two laterally placed 

 wattles, which are shaped like the bands of a " clerk," 

 and the presence of which have given rise to two specific 

 names of cassowaries ; these are distinguished, accord- 

 ing to the presence of one or two of these wattles, as 

 C. uni-appendiculatus and C. bi-carunculatus. It is 

 easy enough to say that the brilliant hues of the naked 

 skinned throat are due to sexual selection ; but there 

 is no doubt that they now occur. in both sexes, and so 

 they have been at any rate transferred from one sex 

 to the other, and can no longer be reckoned as sex 

 attractions. Cassowaries are quite diurnal birds and 

 sleep peacefully during the night. Their voice has been 

 described as " a curious sort of snorting, grunting and 

 bellowing." They have no proper voice organ com- 

 parable to the syrinx of other birds. In disposition 

 the cassowary has the reputation of being " sullen 

 and treacherous," and there is no doubt that it had 

 better be approached at the Zoo with due circumspec- 

 tion. For the bill is strong and so are the toes. Its 

 food is mostly vegetable, though insects are apparently 

 not scorned. It is a good swimmer, which may account 

 for its occurrence on widely separated islands. The 

 large dark green eggs are known to everybody ; but 

 everybody may not be aware that they are excellent 

 eating. The bird itself is not altogether despicable 

 from the gastronomic point of view. There is one 

 story related of the cassowary which may be true, but 

 does not bear the generally recognized hall mark of 

 truth, repetition. A traveller in Australia observed 

 one of these birds to enter the water and to squat down 

 for a few moments. It then deliberately waded to the 

 bank and shook from out its wings a multitude of small 

 fishes, which it proceeded to devour. The suggestion 



218 



