Habits of Emeus 73 



birds died. One was stuffed and the other mounted as a skeleton," and until a 

 few years ago this was supposed to represent all that was known of the species. 

 In 1901 a skeleton, believed to be that of the other bird brought back by Peron, was 

 found in the Zoological Museum of Florence, thus closing the melancholy history. 

 Habits. As the habits of the two living species are similar, the following 

 account is mainly that of the principal species (D. nov<z-hollandi(B). Emeus 

 refer the more open country, or that but sparsely wooded, and go about usually 

 in parties, it being not uncommon to see as many as twenty or thirty in company. 

 Ihey are shy, wary birds, of keen sight, and when disturbed run strongly and 

 rapidly, usually trusting to their fleetness to escape danger, though a brooding 

 bird when he thinks himself unobserved may occasionally stretch out the neck 

 on the ground and trust to the similarity between his plumage and the surround- 

 ing herbage to escape detection. Emeus subsist on fruits, seeds, roots, and 

 herbage, generally feeding in the morning or evening. They drink water freely, 



I delight in bathing, and can swim well, being not infrequently observed in cross- 

 ing rivers of considerable width. Their ordinary note is a hissing or grunting 

 sound, but during the breeding season they utter a loud booming note, the latter 

 produced apparently through the agency of a curious modification of the wind- 

 pipe, this organ being pierced by a slit in front of, and communicating with, the 

 tracheal pouch. The nest is a very simple affair, in the plains country being sim- 

 ply a hollow scratched in the earth, but in the other places, according to Campbell 

 it is "usually a flat bed or platform composed of grass or other herbage plucked by 

 the bird round about the site, and trampled down. Sometimes bark, pieces of 

 sticks, and leaves of trees are used, intermingled with a few of the bird's own 

 feathers. The shape is generally oval, about four feet by two and a half feet in 

 size, and about two inches in thickness." The nest is placed in open country, 

 frequently at the base of a tree or stump. The eggs, usually about nine but 

 varying from seven to as many as eighteen, are very beautiful, being rough with 

 "granulations of dark green upon a shell of light metallic or verdigris green," 

 giving them the appearance of shagreen. In size the eggs average about 5.15 x 

 3.50 inches, the weight being approximately twenty ounces, or about the equal 

 of a dozen ordinary fowl's eggs. When fresh the eggs are very palatable, a single 

 one making a substantial meal for a family. The nesting season is very early, 

 terminating in late winter or early spring, so that the young are hatched just as 

 the tender grass and shoots on which they feed are coming forth. The period of 

 incubation is about eight weeks, the male, who is strictly monogamous, appar- 

 ently taking full charge of this office as well as that of rearing the young, as it is 

 not known that the female takes any part in this duty. Both the eggs and flesh of 

 the Emeu are eaten by the aborigines, but the flesh is too rank and tough to appeal 

 to European palates, though they sometimes use the oil made from the fat be- 

 neath the skin. The hunting of Emeus by dogs has been considered good sport, 

 and while doubtless still indulged in to some extent, is now discontinued by law. 

 The Emeu is readily domesticated and when properly handled makes quite an 

 engaging pet. It breeds readily in semi-confinement in England and other 

 parts of the world. 



