t M E CASSOWARY. 135 



firidefl: fearch no gizzard could be found ; the legs, ^hich were of a vaft 

 length, were covered with thick, ftrong fcales, plainly indicating the ani- 

 mal to be formed for livifig amidft defarts ; and the foot differed from 

 an oftrich's by forming a triangle, inftead of being cloven." Goldfmith, 

 whofe account of the Emu is the only one I can refer to, fays, ' that it is 

 covered from the back and rump with long feathers, which fall backward^ 

 and cover the anus; thcfe feathers are grey on the back, and white on the 

 belly.' '' The wings are fo fmall as hardly to deferve that name, and are 

 unfurnifhed with thofe beautiful ornaments which adorn thewings of the 

 ©ftrich : all the feathers are extremely coarfe, but the conftruclion of them 

 deferves notice J they grow in pairs from a fmgle (haft, a Angularity 

 which the author I have quoted has omitted to remark. It may be pre- 

 fumed, that thefe birds are not very fcarce, as feveral have been feen^ 

 fome of them immenfcly large; but they are [o wild, as to make fliooting 

 them a matter of great difBculty. Though incapable of fiying, they run 

 with fuch fwiftnefs, that our ficcteft greyhounds are left far behind in 

 every attempt to catch them* The fiefii was eaten, and tafted like beef 

 This gentleman confounds the names Touyou and Emu, as oshershave 

 before him ; whereas the Emu is properly the Caflbwary of Java. 



THE CASSOWARY 



WA S firft brought into Europe by the Dutch^ in 1597, from 

 Java, in the Eaft Indies, in which part of the world it is only 

 found; the natives call it Eme or Emu. Next to the preceding, the 

 largefl and heavieft of the feathered Ipecies : the Calfowary, though not 

 fo large as the former, appears more bulky; its body being nearly equal, 

 and its neck and legs much thicker and ftronger in proportion. 



It is five feet and an halflong, from the point of the bill to the extremity 

 of the daws. The legs are two feet and an half high, from the belly to the 

 end of the claws. The head and neck together are a foot and an half; and the 

 largefl toe, inauding the claw, is five inches long. The claw alone of 

 the leaft toe, is three inches and a half in length. The wing is fo fmall, 

 that it does not appear, being hid under the feathers of the back. All 

 the feathers are of the fame kind, and outwardly ©f the fame colour^ 

 'i hey are generally double, having two long fhafts, which grow out of a 

 fiiorr one, which is fixed in the fkin. Thole that arc double are always of 

 unequal lengthsi fome fourteen inches long, particularly on the rumpj 



while 



