12 BIRD GALLERY. 



Order V. CASUARIIFORMES. EMUS AND CASSOWARIES. 

 la the two families (Dromceidee. and Casuariida] comprising this 

 order the wings are still more reduced in size and the " fingers " are 

 represented by one claw-bearing digit. The body-feathers have an 

 aftershaft or accessory plume as long as the main feather. 



Family I. DROM^EID^:. EMUS. 



FCase 4.1 ^ ne Emus agree with the Cassowaries in possessing a large after- 

 shaft to the body- feathers, but the bill is broad and flat, the head and 

 upper part of the neck have a scanty hair-like covering, and horny 

 casque, helmet and ornamental wattles are wanting. The wings are 

 exceedingly small and, like the tail, entirely concealed beneath the 

 general covering of feathers. The three toes have claws of similar 

 form and nearly equal size. 



The only species surviving at the present time is the common Emu 

 (Dromteus novee-hollandia) (9), which inhabits Australia. A small 

 Black Emu (D. parvulus) was formerly found on the Island of Decres 

 or Kangaroo, but is now extinct and known only from two specimens 

 preserved in the Paris Museum and from a skeleton in the Museum at 

 Florence. It is possible that a third species existed within recent times, 

 for the Tasmanian form was apparently distinct from the Australian 

 species. These great birds frequent the desert sandy plains and open 

 bush-districts, feeding on fruit, roots, and herbage ; they are very keen- 

 sighted, and, like their allies, run with great rapidity. Unlike the 

 Kheas and Ostriches, they are monogamous, though found in small 

 parties after the breeding-season. The female deposits her eggs, from 

 seven to thirteen or more in number, in a hollow scratched in the 

 ground, and the male performs the duties of incubation, which last for 

 about eight weeks. The young are greyish-white, beautifully striped 

 with black, and the eggs when first laid are of a rich sap-green, but 

 this colour gradually fades to dull greenish-black. 



The female is rather smaller than the male, and both sexes possess a 

 remarkable pouch formed by the inner lining of the windpipe. This 

 pouch leaves the trachea through a slit in the anterior wall, and can be 

 inflated at the will of the bird. The inflation is probably connected 

 with the low, resonant, booming note uttered during the nesting-season. 

 Owing to the constant persecution to which they are subjected, Emus 

 are becoming scarcer year by year. Being hardy birds they are easily 

 domesticated and breed readily in parks both in this country and in 

 Europe. 



A fossil species occurs in the Pleistocene of Queensland and New 

 South Wales. 



