450 ANIMAL LIFE-HISTORIES 



Cassowaries (Casuarius) construct a careless nest of vegetation 

 in a sheltered place, and the large eggs vary from three to six in 

 number. They are of pale green colour, and usually rough from 

 the presence of raised dark green spots. The plumage of the 

 chicks is mottled. 



The nest of the Emeu (Drom&iis Novce-Hollandice) is simply 

 a shallow depression scraped out in the ground, and the roughened 

 eggs are smaller and more numerous than those of Cassowaries. 

 Their colour is usually blackish green. It is a common thing for 

 young birds which are able to run about as soon as they are 

 hatched to be protectively coloured, and this is well exemplified 

 by Cassowary and Emeu chicks. Semon thus speaks of the 

 latter (in In the Australian BusJi)\ " The young emeus are very 

 different in colouring from the old birds. They are not of the 

 modest grayish-brown of the latter, but bear a delicate design of 

 a pretty dark gray with numerous stripes on their back and sides. 

 A very similar design is to be seen in the young cassowaries. 

 These stripes of the small birds fulfil a decidedly protective 

 purpose. Young emeus are often pursued by the eagles and 

 hawks so frequent in Australia. When (so my blacks told me) 

 the young emeus see a bird of prey soaring above them they 

 quickly lie down flat upon the ground. A body as big as theirs 

 would surely be much more conspicuous, set off as it is by grass, 

 if it were evenly, though ever so modestly coloured, than if its 

 colouring be varied by stripes and spots. I myself have had 

 occasion to notice how difficult it is to discover an emeu in the 

 grass if it nestles to the ground. On an even level of sand its 

 stripes would direct attention towards it, whereas here they render 

 it inconspicuous." (Compare vol. ii, p. 285.) 



The little Kiwis (Apteryx] of New Zealand have somewhat 

 different nesting habits. The female digs a burrow which expands 

 internally, and here places a thin layer of vegetation, on which she 

 lays her remarkably large eggs. They are usually two in number, 

 and of white or greenish colour. 



FLYING BIRDS (CARINAIYE). The order of Game Birds 

 (Gallinae) includes one family (Megapodiida) of which the mem- 

 bers do not incubate their eggs, the requisite heat being furnished, 

 as in the case of many reptiles, either by the sun or else by the 

 fermentative processes which go on in decaying vegetation. Birds 

 are undoubtedly of reptilian stock, and it may well be that we 



