THE EMU. 



23 



The parts of this animal are said to be con- 

 vertible to many salutary purposes in medi- 

 cine. The i'at is said to be emollient and 

 relaxing; that while it relaxes the tendons, it 

 fortifies the nervous system ; and being ap- 

 plied to the region of the loins, it abates the 

 pains of the stone in the kidneys. The shell 

 of the egg powdered, and given in proper 

 quantities, is said to be useful in promoting 

 urine, and dissolving the stone in the bladder. 

 The substance of the egg itself is thought to 

 be peculiarly nourishing: however, Galen, in 

 mentioning this, asserts, that the eggs of hens 

 and pheasants are good to be eaten ; those of 

 geese and ostriches are the worst of all. 



CHAP. V, 



THE EMU. 1 



OF this bird, which many call the Ameri- 

 can Ostrich, (see Plate XVIII. fig. 25.) but 



1 The term Emu is now applied to the ostrich of New 

 Holland (see Plate XV. fig. 37.) This bird differs in 

 many respects from the African ostrich. It has a 

 straight bill, very much depressed towards the sides, 

 slightly keeled along its middle, and rounded at the 

 point ; large nostrils, covered by a membrane and open- 

 ing above on the middle of the bill; a head unsur- 

 mounted by a bony crest, and covered with feathers 

 up to a certain age ; a naked throat without wattles ; 

 powerful legs of considerable length, fleshy and fea- 

 thered down to the joint, naked and reticulated below 

 it ; three toes directed forwards, the two lateral ones 

 equal in length, and the posterior wholly wanting ; the 

 claws of all the toes nearly equal ; and no true quill- 

 feathers either to the wings or tail. It is consequently 

 distinguished from the African ostrich by the number 

 of its toes ; from it and the rhea by the trifling de- 

 velopement of its wings, and the total want of plumage 

 to the wings and tail ; and from the cassowary by the 

 absence of crest, wattles, and quills, the depression of 

 its bill, the position of its nostrils, and the equality of 

 its cla\vs. 



In size and bulk the emu is exceeded by the African 

 ostrich alone. It is stated by travellers to attain a 

 height of more than seven feet, and its average mea- 

 suiement in captivity may be estimated at between five 

 and six. In form it closely resembles the ostrich, but 

 is lower on the legs, shorter in the neck, and of a more 

 thickset and clumsy make. At a distance its feathers 

 have more of the appearance of hair than of plumage, 

 their barbs being all loose and separate. As in the 

 other ostriches, they take their origin by pairs from 

 the same shaft. Their general colour is a dull brown 

 mottled with dirty gray, the latter prevailing more par- 

 ticularly on the under surface of the bird. On the 

 head and neck they become gradually shorter, assume 

 still more completely the appearance of hairs, and are 

 so thinly scattered over the fore part of the throat and 

 around the ears, that the skin, which is of a purplish 

 hue, is distinctly visible. This appearance is most 

 remarkable in the older birds, in which these parts 

 are left nearly bare. 'The wings are so extremely small 

 as to be quite invisible when applied to the surface 

 of the body. They are clothed with feathers exactly 



little is certainly known. It is an inhabitant 

 of the New Continent; and the travellers 

 who have mentioned it, seem to have been 

 more solicitous in proving its affinity to the 

 ostrich, than in describing those peculiarities 



similar to those of the back, which, it should be ob- 

 served, divide as it were from a middle line, and fall 

 gracefully over on either side. The colour of the bill 

 and legs is of a dusky black ; and that of the iris dull 

 brown. 



There appears to be but little difference in colour 

 between the two sexes; but the young on first quitting 

 the shell have a much more elegant livery. A brood of 

 these has lately been hatched at the society's garden, in 

 which the ground colour is grayish white, marked with 

 two longitudinal broad black stripes along the back, and 

 two similar ones on either side, each subdivided by a 

 narrow middle line of white. These stripes are con- 

 tinued along the neck without subdivision, and are 

 broken on the head into irregular spots. Two other 

 broken stripes pass down the fore part of the neck and 

 breast, and terminate in a broad band passing on either 

 side across the thighs. As in the fully grown bird the 

 bill and legs are of a dusky hue. 



These birds appear to be widely spread over the 

 southern part of the continent of New Holland and the 

 neighbouring islands; but we are not aware that they 

 have been hitherto discovered in its tropical regions. 

 They were formerly very abundant in the neighbour- 

 hood of Botany Bay and Port Jackson, but have been 

 of late years compelled by the increasing numbers of 

 the settlers to seek shelter in the interior. On the 

 south coast they have been met with in great plenty, at 

 Port Phillip by Captain Flinders, and at King George's 

 Sound by the same officer and the naturalists of the ex- 

 pedition under D'Entrecasteaux. They seem also to be 

 extremely numerous in the adjacent islands, especially 

 in Kanguroo island, where they were found in the great- 

 est abundance by both Flinders and Peron; and In 

 King's island, where the distinguished naturalist last 

 named and his companions were fortunately enabled by 

 the kindness of some English seal-hunters to subsist, 

 chiefly upon emu's flesh, for several days while tem- 

 porarily deserted by their captain. According to the 

 late accounts from Swan river, they have also been ob- 

 served on that part of the west coast on which the new 

 settlement is situated. 



The emu was first described and figured, under the 

 name of the New Holland cassowary, in Governor 

 Phillip's Voyage to Botany Bay, published in 1789. 

 To this work Dr Latham contributed very considerably 

 in the ornithological department, and it is therefore 

 probable that the description of this remarkable bird 

 was furnished by him. The figure, taken from a draw- 

 ing made on the spot by lieutenant Watts, is extremely 

 defective. In the ensuing year a second figure, taken 

 from the same specimen as the former, but very different 

 in appearance and equally inaccurate, was given in 

 White's Voyage to New South Wales, the zoological 

 part of which work appears to have been superintended 

 by Dr Shaw, whose Miscellany likewise contains a copy 

 of the same figure. A much better representation, al- 

 though somewhat too highly coloured, occurs in the Atlas 

 to Peron's Voyage aux Terres Australes. 



In its manners the emu bears a close resemblance to 

 the ostrich, as might be expected from their near rela- 

 tionship. Its food appears to be wholly vegetable, con- 

 sisting chiefly of fruits, roots, and herbage; and it is 

 consequently, notwithstanding its great strength, per- 

 fectly inoffensive. The length of its legs, and the mus- 

 cularity of its thighs, enable it to run with great swift- 

 ness ; and, as it is exceedingly shy, it is not easily over 



