2334 THE TINAMUS, FLIGHTLESS BIRDS, ETC. 



lutely essential; while it is further requisite that it should have learned to follow all 

 the twistings and doublings of the birds. The supreme skill and judgment in cast- 

 ing the bolas at the right moment, and with the requisite strength and accuracy of 

 aim, necessary to insure bringing the game to bay, can in general be acquired only by 

 those who have been accustomed to the use of the weapon from their childhood. The 

 rheas have been hunted with the bolas for about two centuries, during which pe- 

 riod they have learned to start off at speed on catching sight of a mounted man; but 

 till some five-and-twenty years ago, up to which date they were never shot, they 

 displayed supreme disregard for a person on foot. 



THE CASSOWARIES AND EMEUS 

 Family 



Two important features serve at once to distinguish the cassowaries and their 

 near allies the emeus from the ostriches and rheas; the first of these being that the 

 feathers have aftershafts of such large size as to make them practically double; 

 while the second peculiarity is to be found in the eggs, which, instead of being light 

 colored and smooth, are dark green in color and granulated in texture. From the 

 observations of Mr. W. Bennett on domestic emeus, it further appears that in this 

 group the females are larger than the males. Then, again, the wing is extremely 

 rudimentary, so much so, indeed, that it may be invisible externally; the humerus 

 being very short. In addition to certain peculiarities connected with the structure 

 of the bones of the palate, the skeleton is further distinguished by retention of rudi- 

 ments of the furcula. In the presence of three toes to each foot, both emeus and 

 cassowaries resemble rheas. By many ornithologists the two genera under con- 

 sideration are regarded as the representatives of as many distinct families, although 

 in our opinion the amount of difference between them is sufficiently expressed by 

 referring them to two subfamilies of a single family. 



The cassowaries form an extensive genus containing a* least nine 

 well-defined species, and confined to Australia, New Guinea, Ceram, 

 and some of the neighboring islands. They are specially characterized by the 

 bare head being surmounted by a helmet-like prominence, formed by an upward 

 extension of the bones of the skull, and covered with naked skin, by the bare neck, 

 which may or may not be ornamented with pendent wattles, and likewise by the 

 great length of the claw of the second or inner toe. The body is covered with 

 dark colored feathers, of a peculiarly loose and coarse structure, which are glossy, 

 and appear more like hairs than the plumage of an ordinary bird; while the wing 

 is represented externally merely by some four or five black quills devoid of barbs, 

 which thus presents the appearance of very coarse bristles. Although the whole 

 of the nine species of cassowaries are included by ornithologists in a single genus, 

 this may be subdivided into three minor groups, distinguished by the form of the 

 helmet, and the number of the wattles on the neck, or the absence. In the first 

 group, as typically represented by the Ceram cassowary (Casuarius galeatus}, 



