236 THE LIFE OF A BIRD. 



Sometimes the male alone undertakes the task, 

 and incubates by himself ; this is, however, an ex- 

 ception to the ordinary rule. The following anec- 

 dote is related by Mr. Jesse, in illustration of this 

 remark. " The only instance I have met with, in 

 which the hen bird has not the chief care in hatch- 

 ing and bringing up the young, is in the case of 

 the emus, at the farm belonging to the Zoological 

 Society, near Kingston. A pair of these birds have 

 now five young ones ; the female, at different times, 

 dropped nine eggs in various places in the pen 

 in which she was confined ; these were collected 

 in one place by the male, who rolled them gently 

 and carefully along with his beak ; he then sat 

 upon them himself, and continued to do so with 

 the utmost assiduity for nine weeks, during which 

 time the female never took his place, nor was he 

 ever observed to leave the nest. When the young 

 were hatched, he alone took charge of them, and 

 has continued to do so ever since, the female not 

 appearing to notice them in any way. On reading 

 this anecdote, many persons would suppose that 

 the female emu was not possessed of that natural 

 affection for its young which other birds have. In 

 order to rescue it from this supposition, I will men- 



