THE CASSOWARY. 



303 



Cassowary. 



than of feathers. 

 They are lively birds, 

 and frisk and dance 

 away when roused, 

 when they look very 

 like a woolly cushion 

 on the top of two 

 poles. Like the Os- 

 trich, they are stu- 

 pid, and like it, also 

 run with amazing 

 swiftness; so much 

 so, that it is very 

 difficult to run them 

 down, unless hy the 

 swiftest dogs, and by them only in an open country. They 

 defend themselves by kicking with their powerful legs, and 

 the blow is quite sufficient to stun a dog, or even at times to 

 fracture a man's leg ; accordingly, dogs trained for hunting 

 them, always approach the running bird, not immediately in 

 its rear, but a little on one side, so as to turn and seize it by 

 the body. 



In the Emu of New Holland, there is also a very curious 

 internal bag, or pouch, connected with the windpipe, but 

 having no communication with the other air-cells ; its use is 

 not exactly known, but it has been ingeniously conjectured, 

 that in a country like New Holland, parts of which are par- 

 ticularly exposed to sudden floods, the sandy plains in the 

 interior are inundated, and the Emus in seeking their food 

 amongst, or attempting to escape from these marshes, must 

 be often obliged to have recourse to swimming ; which, con- 

 sidering their weight, would be difficult, were it not for the 

 power of filling this pouch with air, and thus keeping their 

 heads and necks above water. That this is correct we have 

 good reason for believing : for Captain Short, in the account 

 of his recent expedition into the interior of Australia, men- 

 tions the fact of two Emus swimming across the Morum- 

 -bidgee, in a part of considerable width and rapidity, which 



