CASSOWARY. 



715 



groat variety of ornaments arc made ; of late years 

 a considerable trade has been carried on in them 

 particularly on the continent. The name of this 

 mollusc is derived from a helmet or casque. This 

 genus is of the same class, &c., as CASSIDARIA ; which 

 sec. 



CASSOWARY Cruniarius. A genus of birds 

 belonging to the Struthionidte, or Ostrich family, or 

 to Cuvier's order of stilt birds, division brcvipcnncs, 

 or short winirs. 



The characters of the genus are : the bill straight, 

 short, compressed at the base, rounded near the point, 

 furnished with a ridge on the culmen, and the basal 

 part extending backwards on the head, on the summit 

 of which it forms a large, rounded, and elevated 

 horny crest ; the lower mandible of the bill soft, 

 flexible, and angular near the tip ; the nostrils pierced 

 laterally in the bill, near its point, rounded, and 

 opening in the front ; the legs strong and muscular, 

 with three toes all directed forward, the inner ones 

 short, and armed with a very long and strong claw ; 

 the tarsi almost entirely feathered ; the wings not at 

 all adapted for flight, or even for balancing the bird . 

 when it runs swiftly, as is the case with the wings of 

 the ostrich. This genus also differs from the ostrich 

 in its internal anatomy, so as to indicate a different . 

 quality of food. It is still a gizzard bird, and there- : 

 fore, in part, a vegetable feeder, but the walls of the 

 gizzard are not nearly so strong and muscular as 

 those of the ostrich, and the intermediate stomach 

 between the craw and the gizzard is altogether want- 

 ing. The intestinal canal is also considerably shorter, 

 and the caeca are very small. 



There is only a single species, C. galeatux, the 

 helmpted or crested Cassowary. It is the lamest 

 of birds with the exception of the ostrich. The 

 general colour is black, but apt to fade into a dark 

 sooty brown. The head and upper part of the 

 neck are bare of feathers, of a blue colour, with flame- 

 coloured reflections in the breeding season, or when 

 the bird is in high condition. The helmet, or horny 

 protuberance on the head, extends from the base of 

 the bill to the middle of the crown ; it is about three 

 inches high, black on the fore part and yellow behind ; 

 on the sides of the neck, immediately under the ears, 

 then! are wattles, one on each side, something resem- 

 bling those of the turkey-cock, and changing the 



colours in a similar manner, and from similar causes. 

 The prevailing colour is purplish red, which deepens 

 when the bird is excited, and becomes pale when it 

 is exhausted. There is also a bare spot on the 

 breast, covered with a callous or indurated skin, and 

 the bird rests its weight upon this when it squats 

 upon the ground. The rest of the body is pretty 

 uniformly covered with blackish brown feathers, the 

 webs of which are loose and flocculent, and have 

 more the appearance of long loose wool than of 

 feathers ; but none of them are produced like the 

 ornamental feathers of the ostrich. Some of them 

 are, however, of considerable length ; those on the 

 rump are not less than fourteen inches, and they are 

 pendulous, and form a sort of substitute for a tail. 

 The wings, which indeed hardly deserve the name, 

 are not feathered ; but, in place of quills, they have 

 five naked shafts in each, bearing so.me resemblance 

 to the quills of the porcupine ; and it is said that the 

 male birds use those spinous shafts in their combats 

 with each other, and also for a defence against 

 enemies. 



The body of this bird is as large as that of the 

 ostrich ; its neck is considerably shorter, and its 

 bearing is not so majestic, so that it does not look 

 nearly so formidable. The eggs are of smaller dia- 

 meter, and rather longer than those of the ostrich. 



Their ground colour is a delicate greenish grey, 

 very beautifully marked with spots of grass-green, 

 which are raised as if they were bits of enamel fixed 

 on the shell. Towards the smaller end they have 

 some white markings. These eggs are deposited in 

 the sand without any formal nest, and the heat of 

 that substance is often sufficient to hatch them with- 

 out any assistance from the parent bird ; but it is 

 not true that these birds desert their eggs any more 

 than the same is true of the ostrich, though it has 

 pretty generally formed part of the description of 

 both birds. When the temperature or state of the 

 weather renders it necessary, these birds sit on their 

 eggs as carefully as any other members of the class ; 

 and when the circumstances come round which enable 

 them to dispense with sitting, they bring along with 

 them a necessity on the part of the bird to spend the 

 greater portion of its time in searching for its own 

 food. 



Here we cannot help remarking, that a very 

 beautiful provision of nature for the preservation of 

 those wingless birds of the wilderness has been most 

 unphilosophically turned into a ground of accusation 

 against the birds ; and among romancers, the ostrich 

 has, time out of mind, been used as the emblem for 

 those unnatural parents of the human race who 

 desert their offspring in its helpless years. Now, if it 

 is borne in mind, that in those countries which birds 

 of this family inhabit, there are many months without 

 a shower, and with the hot sun beating on the naked 

 surface all day long, at such times the food of the 

 bird is of course scanty, and so scattered, that to 

 procure one bill-full a journey must be undertaken ; 

 under such circumstances, one bird could not feed 

 another, as the males of many of our birds feed the 

 females, when they do not take turn with them in 

 sitting. Hence it is necessary that, in this hot and 

 dry weather, the female bird should have free range 

 during the day, in order to maintain her own life ; 

 but when there is rain, food is much more abundant, 

 and then the females of those birds do sit on their 

 eggs. Even in the hot weather, when dews fall 



