12 



BIRD GALLERY. 



Order V. CASUARII FORMES. EMUS AND CASSOWARIES. 

 In the two families (Drom&idte and Casuariidce] comprising this 

 order the wings are still more reduced in size and the " fingers " are 

 represented by one claw-bearing digit. The body-feathers have an 

 aftershaft or accessory plume as long as the main feather. 



Family I. DROMYEID^E. EMUS. 



[Case 4.] The Emus agree with the Cassowaries in possessing a large after- 

 shaft to the body- feathers, but the bill is broad and flat, the head and 

 upper part of the neck have a scanty hair-like covering, and there is no 

 horny casque or helmet or ornamental wattles. The wings are exceed- 

 ingly small and, like the tail, entirely concealed beneath the general 

 covering of feathers. The three toes have claws of similar form and 

 nearly equal size. 



Of the two species surviving at the present time the common Emu 

 (Dromaeus nocfe-hollandia} (9) inhabits Eastern Australia, and the 

 Spotted Emu (D. irroratus) Western Australia. A small Black Emu 

 (D. ater) was formerly found on the Island of Decres or Kangaroo, but 

 is now extinct and only known from two specimens preserved in the 

 Paris Museum and from a skeleton in the Museum at Florence. It is 

 possible that a fourth species existed within recent times, for the 

 Tasmanian form was apparently distinct from both the Australian 

 species. These great birds frequent the desert sandy plains and open 

 bush districts, feeding on fruit, roots, and herbage ; they are very keen- 

 sighted, and, like their allies, run with great rapidity. Unlike the 

 Rheas and Ostriches, they are monogamous, though found in small 

 parties after the breeding-season. The female deposits her eggs, from 

 seven to thirteen or more in number, in a hollow scratched in the 

 ground, and the male performs the duties of incubation, which last for 

 about eight weeks. The young are greyish white, beautifully striped 

 with black, and the eggs when first laid are of a rich sap-green, but 

 this colour gradually fades to dull greenish-black. 



The female is rather smaller than the male, and both sexes possess a 

 remarkable pouch formed by the inner lining of the windpipe. This 

 pouch leaves the trachea through a slit in the anterior wall, and can be 

 inflated at the will of the bird. The inflation is probably connected 

 with the low, resonant, booming note uttered during the nesting-season. 

 Owing to the constant persecution to which they are subjected, Emus 

 are becoming scarcer year by year. Being hardy birds they are easily 

 domesticated and breed readily in parks both in this country and in 

 Europe. 



A fossil species occurs in the Pleistocene of Queensland and New 

 South Wales. 



