02 Bkxsil, The Emu of King Island. [isf"oct. 



trained dogs, which search the woods, and rarely fail to throttle several of 

 these animals every day. . . . It is not only because we heard these 

 details from the fisherman that I speak of them ; we were able ourselves, as 

 it will be shown later on, to judge of their correctness, during our stay in 

 Decres Island (p. 19). 



" .... It was then that we felt more keenly than ever the 

 inconvenience of the wretched obstinacy on the part of our chief to refuse 

 firearms and ammunitions to the men whom he sent to shore .... 

 (p. 20)." 



These passages prove to us that if Peron and his companions, 

 more particularly Lesueur, were able to see bodies of King Island's 

 Emu, they did not see any alive. They did not follow the dogs 

 trained to capture the birds, and the lack of firearms prevented 

 them from hunting, even at the very moment when they were 

 most in need of them to provide their own food. 



The document pubhshed by Milne-Edwards and Oustalet 

 corroborates this way of thinking. It is a schedule of questions 

 drawn by Peron, and the answers are certainly from one of the 

 English fishermen settled on the island. It refers to the Emu. 

 It is obvious that several of the questions would not have been 

 made if the travellers had had any opportunity for making a 

 personal study of the bird. The following are extracts : — 



" I. English name f 



" Hemeo. (Emu.) 



"2 



" 3. Do they live by themselves or in flocks ? 



"They are generally single, but at the pairing time they go from 10 to 20 

 together, and when each male has made his choice of a female they 

 separate from the rest and go away in pairs. 



" 4. Does the plumage vary in colour according to age ? 



" The young ones have a greyish plumage, which becomes quite black as 

 they grow up, and when the big feathers come on. 



" Does the colour 0/ the plumage vary according to sex ? 



" Same colour, though the male's may be brighter. 



" Does it vary in colour according to seasons ? 



" It does not change. 



"5 



" 6. Which IS the largest size they attain ? 



" In King Island, almost 4j^ feet ; they are smaller than in Sydney. 



" What is the weight of the bird then ? 



"The heaviest weighs from 45 to 50 pounds. 



7. Is the female bigger or smaller than the male 



" The male is bigger, but the difference is not great. 

 "8 



"9 



"10. Ho7u do they defend themsehies against their enemies ? 



" With their feet, like horses do with their hoofs, and they can do much 

 harm. 



"II 



"12 



" 13. What is their usual food? 



" They feed on the berries of ... . (.>), on Ficoidece, seaweeds, 

 though rarely, and on different kinds of grass. The food in their stomachs 

 smells very pleasantly. Gravel is to be found in all of them. Swallowed 

 nails. 



