lyA White, Notes on the Cassowary \ iJ^^Tm 



{Macrozamia denisonii, F. v. M.), and the fruit of a tree belonging to 

 the Sapotacecs family. 



June. — I selected Clump Point for the camp on account of the 

 number of birds seen and its secluded state. There are birds in any 

 portion of this valley one goes to. In one place, some 3 miles from 

 camp, there are tracks resembling those of cattle, made by Casso- 

 waries in their wanderings along the creek. The only thing against 

 the country is the dense undergrowth, which makes it so hard to 

 travel through. In some places there is an impenetrable mass of 

 lawyer-vines (Calamus moii, Bail.) I have been within 10 feet of a 

 Cassowary here. The bird actually sat down, under some lawyer- 

 vines, and watched me also. The birds have not mated yet, and the 

 general opinion is that they will not start until the end of July. But 

 I am out every day, and have selected four pairs, which I visit in 

 turn, spending a day with each. At Maria Creek also I have found 

 the birds, but they are much disturbed by natives, dogs, and timber- 

 getters walking about. Their food for the last two months has been 

 mostly palm (Archontophcenix alexandrce, Wendl.) berries — a small 

 red berry three times the size of a pea. These are knocked down in 

 thousands by the purple-breasted Fruit-Pigeon {Megaloprepia 

 assimilis, Gld.), Topknot-Pigeon {Lopholcemus antarcticus, Shaw), and 

 White-headed Fruit-Pigeon (Columba leucomela, Temm.), which are 

 here in large numbers. If it were not for these berries the Casso- 

 waries would often go hungry. Of course, there are a few other kinds 

 of berries which they obtain in the same way, but these are by no 

 means so plentiful as the palm berries. 



The young Cassowaries seen with their parents are too big to be 

 this year's birds. Now the young have mostly been hunted by the 

 female, who, however, makes little heaps of berries as she goes about, 

 as if for their benefit. The young birds can easily look after them- 

 selves, as they can beat a dog, to my own knowledge. Though one 

 may meet an odd Cassowary walking about among the scattered 

 palms on a creek-bank, or flush one from the kangaroo-grass in a 

 quiet pocket, to see the mob one has to go to a palm scrub among 

 the foot-hills. In such a spot may be seen as many as six Cassowaries 

 close together ; the males can easily be recognized by their size alone. 

 I came across a nest containing three eggs on Thursday, 15th June. 

 As there were no more by Saturday evening, I took the clutch, and 

 found that the eggs were all slightly incubated. They are light 

 green in colour, and were laid two feet from the base of a large 

 clump of lawyer-vines (Calamus moti, Bail.), in the sunlight. I was 

 beside them before I saw them, the scrub was so dense. Last year 

 a farmer took up land here in July, and in brushing his scrub in 

 August he found a nest with four eggs ; and Mr. Cutten, of Clump 

 Point, has a set of three, obtained in August. 



By comparing the notes, which I took from Gould's " Handbook " 

 and from other sources, I am sure that the birds lay up to mid- 

 September (Patterson's Atherton set). And, although it is pure luck 

 finding them now, I think that the season has only just started. 

 (Rainy season just finished.) My system is, first to see a pair, then 

 find the usual feeding ground and watering place, and search the 

 country round about. There are seven small creeks altogether in 

 the country wliich I have .^elected for hunting ; these creeks rise 

 from the Clump Mountain Range, to the south, and travel north-east 

 to north. Four are permanent. During my first trips to find out 



