941 



STRUTHIONID,E. 



STKUTHIONID^E. 



Rhea Darwinii, we must give his valuable account of the habits of 

 Rhea Americana. 



" This bird," says Mr. Darwin, " is well known to abound on the 

 plains of La Plata. To the north it is found, according to Azara, in 

 Paraguay, where however it is not common; to the south its limit 

 appears to be from 42 to 43. It has not crossed the Cordillera; 

 but I have seen it within the first range of mountains on the 

 Uspallata plain, elevated between six and seven thousand feet. The 

 ordinary habits of the Ostrich are well known. They feed on vegetable 

 matter, such as roots and grass; but at Bahia Blanca I have repeatedly 

 seen three or four come down at low-water to the extensive mud-banks, 

 which are then dry, for the sake, as the Gauchos say, of catching small 

 fish. Although the Ostrich in its habits is so shy, wary, and solitary, 

 and although so fleet in its pace, it falls a prey, without much dif- 

 ficulty, to the Indian or Gaucho armed with the bolas. When several 

 horsemen appear in a semicircle, it becomes confounded, and does not 

 know which way to escape. They generally prefer running against the 

 wind ; yet at the first start they expand their wings, and like a vessel 

 make all sail. On one fine hot day I saw several ostriches enter a bed 

 of tall rushes, where they squatted concealed till quite closely ap- 

 proached. It is not generally known that ostriches readily take to 

 the water. Mr. King informs me that in Patagonia, at the bay of San 

 Bias and at Port Valdes, he saw these birds swimming several times 

 from island to island. They ran into the water, both when driven to 

 a point, and likewise of their own accord, when not frightened : the 

 distance crossed was about two hundred yards. When swimming very 

 little of their bodies appear above water, and their necks are extended 

 a little forward : their progress is slow. On two occasions I saw some 

 ostriches swimming across the Santa Cruz River, where it was about 

 four hundred yards wide, and the stream rapid. 



" The inhabitants who live in the country readily distinguish, even 

 at a distance, the male bird from the female. The former is larger 

 and darker coloured, and has a longer head. The Ostrich, I believe 

 the cock, emits a singular deep-toned hissing note. When first I 

 heard it, standing in the midst of some sand-hillocks, I thought it 

 was made by some wild beast, for it is a sound that one cannot tell 

 whence it comes or from how far distant. When we were at Bahia 

 Blanca in the mouths of September and October the eggs were found, 

 in extraordinary numbers, all over the country. They either lie 

 scattered single, in which case they are never hatched, and are called 

 by the Spaniards ' huachos,' or they are collected together into a 

 shallow excavation which forms the nest. Out of the four nests 

 which I taw, three contained twenty -two eggs each, and the fourth 

 twenty-seven. In one day's hunting on horseback sixty-four eggs were 

 found ; forty-four of these were in two nests, and the remaining twenty 

 scattered huachos. The Qauchoa unanimously affirm, and there is 

 no reason to doubt their statement, that the male bird alone hatches 

 the eggs, and for some time afterwards accompanies the young. The 

 oock when on the nest lies very close ; I have myself almost ridden 

 over one. It is asserted that at such times they are occasionally fierce, 

 and even dangerous, and that they have been known to attack a 

 man on horseback, trying to kick and leap on him. My informer 

 pointed out to me an old man, whom he had seen much terrified by 

 one chasing him." 



Rltea Darwinii, Qould, is smaller, and the general tinge of the 

 plumage is light brown in place of gray ; each feather being conspicu- 

 ously tipped with white. The bill is considerably smaller, and espe- 

 cially less broad at its base ; the culmen is less than half as wide, and 

 becomes slightly broader towards the apex, whereas in the Ji. A mericana 

 it becomes slightly narrower : the extremity of both the upper and 

 the lower mandible is more tumid in the latter than in R. Darwinii, 

 and there are other differences. 



JL A mericana has been exhibited alive in the Gardens of the Zoolo- 

 gical Society of London, and specimens of both species are to be seen 

 in the museum of that Society and in the British Museum. 



Dromaiiu (Vieill.). Bill straight, with the edges very much de- 

 pressed, rounded at the extremity, slightly carinated above ; nostrils 

 large, protected by a membrane, and opening above about the middle 

 of the bill ; head feathered; throat nearly naked; feet three-toed. 



This is also the genus fJromiccius of Vieillot, Tachsa, Flem., and 

 the form is placed by Latliam under the genus Caauariua, and by 

 Temminck under Rhea. 



The Emeu, Emu, or Australian Cassowary, Dromaiiu Nova Jlottandicz 

 of authors, D. aler of Vieillot, and Dromiceiui Australia of Swainson, 

 1 'arena bang of the natives, has become quite familiar to us from the 

 frequency of its exhibition in menageries, and its breeding so readily 

 in a state of domestication. 



The food of the Emeu consists of vegetables and seeds, but chiefly 

 of fruit* roots, and herbage. In a state of nature it is very fleet, and 

 afford* excellent sport in coursing with dogs, which are however 

 rather shy of their game, in consequence of the powerful kicks that 

 the bird can inflict, so powerful that the settlers say it cau break the 

 bone of a man's leg by striking out with its feet. Well-trained dogs 

 therefore, to avoid this infliction, run up a-breast and make a sudden 

 spring at the neck of the bird. Though the Emeu has bred so fre- 

 quently in captivity, the mode of making the nest in the wild state 

 does not appear to be well known, though it is generally supposed to 

 be a mere hollow excavated in the earth. The dark green eggs are 



six or seven in number. The birds appear to be tolerably constant in 

 pairing, and the male bird sits and hatches the young, whilst the female 

 watches and guards the nest. The Emeu can produce a hollow drum- 

 ming sort of note, well known to those who have attended to its 

 manners in captivity. These birds will, like the Rhea, take water. 

 Captain Sturt, when descending the Murrumbidgee, in Australia, saw 

 two of them in the act of swimming. They appear to be gregarious, 

 and not very shy in some localities, for Major Mitchell in his excursion 

 towards Port Phillip found them very numerous on the open downs, 

 and their curiosity brought them to stare at the horses of the party, 

 apparently unconscious of the preseuce of the riders. In one flock 

 he counted thirty-nine, and they came so near him that the gallant 

 traveller, having no rifle with him, was tempted to discharge a pistol 

 at them, but without effect. 



Foot of Emeu. 



This bird is widely diffused over the southern part of Australia and 

 the neighbouring islands ; but gradually disappearing before the 

 encroachment of civilised man. They have also been observed on the 

 west coast (Swan Kiver). Captain Flinders found them in abundance 

 at Port Phillip and King George's Sound, and IJ'Entrecasteaux at the 

 latter place. Flinders and Pdron saw them iu numbers at Kangaroo 

 Island. 



The flesh of the Emeu, particularly the hind quarters, is generally 

 described to be good and sweet eating. 



Apleryx (Shaw). In 1812 Captain Barclay, of the ship Providence, 

 brought a specimen from New Zealand, and presented it to Dr. Shaw. 

 When Dr. Shaw died, this specimen came into the possession of the 

 late Earl of Derby. M. Temminck placed it with the Dodo among 

 the Inertei, but still hardly anything wa< generally known of the bird 

 till Mr. Yarrell, in 1833, described and figured the Earl of Derby's 

 original specimen, collecting in his paper, iu the first volume of tho 



