4 A MANUAL OF THE BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA. 



the head and neck are covered with short, down-like plumes, which are black on 

 the crown and hind-neck, somewhat paler on the sides of face, and ashy-grey or 

 whitish with minute black, hair-like points on the throat and fore-neck ; the under- 

 surface of the body is grey, paler than that of the upper-surface, the feathers being 

 shorter on the breast and abdomen, but becoming longer on the under tail-coverts, 

 which are darker in colour, stifEer in texture and more disintegrated, like those of 

 the tail. Total length about 167 cm. ; culmen 95 mm., tarsus 355, middle toe 

 and claw 145. (Description of type of D. diemenensis Le Souef .) 



A second example of this species in the British Museum is similar in colour of 

 plumage, but not quite so dark on the sides of face and ear-coverts. It also shows 

 some slight variations in the measurements. Culmen 97 mm., tarsus 325, middle 

 toe and claw 153. (Paratype with above.) 



Immature (above half grown). General colour above greyish -brown, all the 

 feathers having whitish hair-like ends ; the feathers on the lower hind -neck and down 

 the middle of the back are blackish, and impart a more or less streaked appearance ; 

 on the lower back, rump and tail the feathers are much more disintegrated, and are 

 brown and white in colour ; the head and neck all round (including the lower fore- 

 neck) are covered with short black feathers, more thickly on the crown of the head 

 and more sparsely on the neck ; a longitudinal line of white feathers on the middle 

 of the chin and throat and a few intermingled on the fore-head and sides of head ; 

 the remainder of the under-surface silvery -grey, all the feathers more or less inter- 

 mixed with brown. Total length about 92 cm. ; culmen 53 mm., tarsus 228, 

 middle toe and claw 95. Mathews examined the supposed " Black Emu " in the 

 Liverpool Museum, and finds it is undoubtedly an immature of the eastern form ; 

 it has the head and hah* the neck black, rest of plumage the ordinary grey -brown 

 of the immature, the bases of the feathers more silvery-grey ; it is darker towards 

 the tail ; there are new black feathers appearing on the mantle ; it is mounted and 

 a little dirty. There are eleven large scutes on the front lower tarsus ; fourteen 

 on the middle toe, eight on the outer toe and eight on the inner toe. Space round 

 the eye and lores bare. Total length 1,120 mm. ; bill from tip to gape 85, culmen 

 40, tarsus 220, middle toe without claw 80, height (as mounted) to back 680 mm., 

 to top of head 980 mm. Presented by Captain Mathews, S.S. Great Britain, March 

 24th, 1854. 



Chick. Covered with down of a sooty-black colour, and with longitudinal lines 

 of white running from hinder part of the crown to the end of the body and down the 

 thighs, giving a broadly striped appearance, with whitish hair-like tips ; head 

 similar in colour, but the dark portion blacker, with intensely black hair-like tips, 

 the white interspaces tending rather to cross-bars ; sides of face, throat and fore-neck 

 similar, but the white increasing in proportion to the black in longitudinal lines 

 towards the abdomen, which is entirely white or whitish. Total length about 

 30.5 cm. ; culmen 23 mm., tarsus 58, middle toe and claw 35. 



Nest. A flat bed, composed of grass, bark, pieces of sticks, leaves, etc., trampled 

 together by the bird, sometimes merely an unlined depression in the ground. 



Eggs. Clutch, average nine, from seven to eighteen ; elliptical to swollen 

 ovals, finely granulated, the granulations dark metallic -green, the hollows paler ; 

 axis 125-140 mm., diameter 82-90 mm. 



Breeding-season. April to November. 



Incubation-period. About fifty -six days. 



Distribution and forms. Australia (and Tasmania, now extinct). Three main- 

 land forms can be distinguished : D. n. novcehollandice (Latham), from New South 

 Wales ; D. n. woodwardi Mathews, from North-west Australia, in its lighter coloration 

 and more slender legs ; and D. n. rothschildi Mathews, from South-west Australia, 

 in its darker coloration throughout and in having dark bases to the feathers. The 

 extinct Tasmanian race, D. n. diemenensis Le Souef, had apparently white throats. 



