APPENDIX A 297 



is of western origin being hitherto known from the Arfak 

 Peninsula, and the islands of Salwatti, Mysol and Gilolo. 

 Its occurrence on the Iwaka river was quite unexpected 

 and no doubt the range of the two species overlap in the 

 neighbourhood of the Mimika in the south and in the 

 vicinity of Rubi on Geelvinck Bay in the north. In 

 both the plumage is black, but T. cuvieri is a larger bird 

 than T. fuscirostris and is easily recognised by having 

 the tibia feathered right down to the tibio-tarsal joint 

 and the bill orange-red instead of sooty-brown. 



All these species are of the greatest interest on 

 account of their remarkable nesting habits, and their 

 nesting mounds of decaying vegetable matter were 

 conspicuous objects in the jungle. The eggs, which arc 

 very large for the size of the birds, are buried among 

 the debris which the birds rake together into a large 

 heap, the young being hatched, as in an incubator, by the 

 warmth of the decaying leaves. The parent bird, after 

 burying its eggs, takes no further notice of them, but the 

 young on leaving the shell are fully feathered and able 

 to fly and take care of themselves. 



F AM I LY CASUARIIDJE — CASSOWARI ES. 



The discovery made by Mr. Walter Goodfellow that 

 two distinct forms of two-wattled Cassowary occur side 

 by side on the Mimika River has greatly modified Mr. 

 Rothschild's views on the classification of the genus, and 

 he now finds that the ten forms possessing two wattles, 

 when placed side by side fall naturally into two groups, 

 one consisting of the Common Cassowary (Casuarius 

 casuarius), divisible into six sub-species or races, and 

 the other of C. hicarunculaUis which may be divided 

 into four sub-species. The large forms found on the 

 Mimika are C. sclateri, representing the first group, and 

 C. intensus representing the second. Both these birds 



