EMEUS. 



567 



Unlike the cassowaries, emeus are inhabitants of the plains and open forest country, 

 where, although strictly monogamous during the breeding-season, they associate in 

 small parties. Their food consists of fruits, roots, grass, and other herbage ; their 

 chief feeding-time being the cool of the early morning. Possessed of great keenness 

 of vision, and swift of foot, emeus rival the kangaroos in speed, and afford an 

 exciting chase with dogs. Such hunts do not end till the birds are thoroughly 

 exhausted, when, if seized by the neck, in order to avoid kicks from their powerful 



EMEU AND CHICKS (f^ Hat. size). 



legs, they ate soon pulled down. As with the other members of the subclass, the 

 task of incubation falls to the share of the cock, by whom the eggs, which vary in 

 number from nine to thirteen, are brooded, according to observations made on 

 specimens by Sir E. G, Loder, for a period of from fifty-four to sixty-four days. 

 The nest is but a poor affair, consisting merely of a shallow hollow, scooped in the 

 sandy soil. In colour, the eggs vary from a dark bottle-green to a light bluish 

 green ; their length being just short of 5 inches, and their transverse diameter 

 3| inches. During the breeding-season, at least, the hen-emeu utters a peculiar, 

 loud booming sound, which is produced through the intervention of a pouch 



