THE CASSOWARY. 



Description. 



singularity of its countenance conspire to render 

 formidable. M. de BufFon says, that the one 

 mentioned by the gentlemen of the French Aca~ 

 demy five feet and a half in length, from the 

 point of the bill to the extremity of the claws, 

 and about three feet from the breast to the end 

 of the rump; for it has no tail. The head and 

 neck measured from eighteen inches to two feet; 

 the legs were two feet and a half high, from the 

 belly to the end of the claws; they were exceed- 

 ingly gross, ami covered with a yellowish rind ; 

 the feet were thick, knobbed, and without spurs; 

 instead of which were placed on the fore-part 

 ihree long horny claws : the largest toe, includ- 

 ing the claw, was five inches long, and the claw 

 alone of the least toe, three inches and a half in 

 length. Their wings are very small, and so much 

 concealed under the feathers of the back, as to 

 be scarcely perceivable. In other birds, a part 

 of the feathers serve for flight, and are different 

 from those that serve for merely covering ; but 

 in the cassowary all the feathers are of the same 

 kind, and outwardly of the same colour, a dark 

 red mixed with black. They are generally dou- 

 ble, with two long shafts, growing out of a short 

 one, which is fixed in the skin. Those that are 

 double, are always of an unequal length ; for 

 some are fourteen inches long, particularly on 

 the rump, while those on the breast, back, and 

 thighs, are not above three. The beards that 

 adorn the stem or shaft, are from about half way 

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