234 



NATURAL HISTORY. 



in which the Emus differ from the Ostriches in habit: for instance, they pair, and the male 

 remains attached to a single female instead of being polygamous, and the female Emu is also the 

 larger bird of the two. Writing of the Common Emu, Mr. Gould says: "Its flesh has been 

 compared to coarse beef, which it resembles, according to Mr. Cunningham, both in appearance 

 and taste, and is good and sweet eating ; nothing indeed can bs more delicate than the flesh of 

 the young ones. There is little fit for culinary use upon any part of the Emu, except the hind 



quarters, which are of such dimensions, that the shouldering of two hind legs homeward for a 

 mile distance once proved to rne as tirasoma a task as I ever recollect to have encountered in 

 the colony. I may remark that its flesh proved of the greatest service to Dr. Leichhardt and 

 his intrepid companions during their overland routs from Moreton Bay to Port Essington, in the 

 course of which, but more particularly between the head of the Gulf of Carpentaria and Port 

 Essington, the sight and capture of the Emu was almost a daily occurrence ; so abundant, in 

 fact, was it, that he states that he saw in the short space of eight miles at least a hundred, in 

 flocks of three, five, ten, and even more at a time. On the continent of Australia the Emu was 

 formerly abundant about Botany Bay and Port Jackson Harbour ; but is now only to be seen 



