Vol. XII. "j White, Notes on the Cassowary. ^77 



danger notes. If one comes quietly on a bird while it is having its 

 mid-day rest there is a mad, tearing rush, the Cassowary often being 

 brought up by the lawyer-vines rather suddenly. But it never 

 seems to look where it is going. From early morning till dusk there 

 is a Babel of song and rustling of leaves in the scrub, with brief 

 intervals of quiet, broken only by the " Buk-buk-boo " of the beau- 

 tiful purple-breasted Fruit-Pigeon {Megalo previa assimilis, Gld.), 

 or the harsh notes of the Rifie-Bird {Ptilorhis victories, Gld.) and Quoy's 

 Butcher-Bird {Cracticus rufescens, De Vis). The first appearance 

 of the white Nutmeg-Pigeons {Myristicivora spilorrhoa, Gray) was 

 on the loth of this month. A Hull River native caught a young 

 Cassowary this month, but liberated it at my request. It was three 

 weeks or a month old. It did not seem to be afraid of human beings, 

 but became frantic at sight of a dog. The White-headed Fruit-Pigeons 

 (Columba leucomela, Temm.) visit this locaUty in large numbers 

 while the quondongs are in, and on the arrival of the Nutmeg-Pigeons, 

 about the loth August, they had all disappeared. 



Food this month consisted of the blue quondong (ElcBocarpus 

 grandis, F. v. M.), red plum (species of Eugenia, a long-stoned plum 

 {Cryptocarya,s,^.), a yellow fruit {Polyalthia, sp.), scrub-apple (? Pygeum 

 turnerianum, Bailey), seed of the zamia palm {Macrozamia denisonii, 

 F. V. M.), &c. 



September. — In spite of all my efforts, I found no more nests, but 

 saw two broods of young birds, consisting of three in each case. It 

 is my opinion that the majority have hatched out. I saw three 

 Jabirus {Xenorhynchus asiaticus, Lath.) on a swamp near the Hull 

 River, not far from the sea. Here there are a few Rifle-Birds 

 (Ptilorhis victories, Gld.) and Spotted Cat-Birds {Mlurcxdus maculosus, 

 Ramsay), but Tooth-billed Bower-Birds (Scenopcsetes dentirostris , 

 Ramsay) are scarce. The handsome Pitta strepitans is abundant 

 everywhere, also the Bower Thrush (Pinarolestes boweri, Ramsay). 

 Have seen only one Manucode (Phonygama gouldi. Gray) all the 

 time, but often hear them. They are shy birds. The search was 

 on a portion of a creek with a hill rising from one bank with flat 

 terraces, dense growth of lawyer-vines, and steep, dry gullies to the 

 east. On the western side there is a continual thicket of lawyer- 

 vines and heavy scrub. One Sunday (loth' September) I came across 

 a female Cassowary with three very young birds. This left me only 

 the pair from which I obtained the set of four eggs. In spite of my 

 careful search for the nest, the female hatched out four eggs on or 

 about 26th September. She crossed the creek with the brood one 

 day while I was having my lunch. I seldom heard the birds make 

 a sound ; when I did it was generally a female with young, who had 

 got wind of me. The male birds went over the range for food, with 

 the exception of one or two, which returned to their old haunts of 

 May and June. There being no quondongs, and a scarcity of other 

 kinds of foods, the birds have a hard time of it this month. The 

 young birds are easily caught by a quick rush, as they simply run into 

 a thick clump of lawyer- vines and hide. When one comes on a bird 

 with young she tries to " bluff " by a " Boom " or two, and a pretence 

 of charging, thus gaining time for her chicks to hide. Then, with a 

 quick run, she too disappears. But if one waits for a while and keeps 

 quiet she returns and gathers the young ones together, uttering a 

 low " Heugh," repeated many times. There are signs that, as the 

 young birds grow strong, they migrate westward to the lower slopes 

 of the main range, where food will still be available. 



