QA Brasil, The Emu of King Island. [ist^'oct 



" About wliat time do they leave the nest ? 



" Two or three days after birth they leave the nest to go and drink ; the 

 big birds cause berries to fall to the ground, and the young ones eat them, 

 after which they go back to the nest. They leave it for good when they are 

 strong enough to provide for themselves. 



"27. WJiat is their position when at rest and asleep? Are they usually 

 standing up ? Do they bend their knees to rest on the ground? At night do 

 they lie on the ground or do they stand up to rest ? 



" They bend their legs to rest or sleep, and support themselves on the 



sternum. 

 (( 



" . . . . " {loc. cit pp. 209-212). 



It is not necessary to show all the importance of the documents 

 whose extracts have just been given. It not only provides valuable 

 information (particulars) — all we have as to the characteristics 

 and the habits of an extinct bird — but it also shows us how care- 

 fully these travellers were making their investigations and to 

 what great degree of confidence we can accept their observations. 

 With reference to the particular point which is engaging our 

 attention, what has just been transcribed makes it very difficult, 

 if not quite impossible, to adopt Mathews's argument. The King 

 Island's adult Emu was " quite black." Therefore it is not there 

 that the " White-breasted Emu," which was supposed by Mathews 

 to be in existence in Peron's time, will ever be found. Therefore, 

 the only argument to make one of the birds in Lesueur's plate 

 to be considered as originally from King Island falls to the ground 

 through this very fact. On the contrary, there are powerful 

 reasons in support of the inverse thesis — that is to say, that the 

 birds represented in the plate could not have come from this 

 island. 



Lesueur's drawings were made from living animals. Peron 

 says so expressly, and, as for the plate in question, Mathews him- 

 self acknowledges it, so much does the mien of the drawn subjects 

 make it evident. Beside, the plate of the " Voyage " is not the 

 only iconographical document in our possession. There are also 

 from Lesueur's pencil a certain number of sketches devoted to 

 the Emu. All relate to the same species. The care given by the 

 artist to the drawing of the feathers of the head, his insistence 

 in drawing always the attention to this detail by means of foot- 

 notes, show that he tried each time to reproduce his model very 

 exactly, and, above all, the characteristics which he thought 

 peculiar to it. Indeed, these sketches are sufficiently ahke to 

 make it impossible to conceive that they could represent different 

 species or varieties ; they look even as if they had been drawn 

 from the same specimens. Here is the enumeration of these 

 sketches : — Browsing Emu (Bibhotheque du Museum de 

 Paris) ; two Emus — one lying down, the other standing 

 (Bibhotheque du Museum de Paris) ; Emu's head — full face and 

 profile ; leg (foot), (Bibhotheque du Museum de Paris) ; drawing 

 partly reproduced in their notes by Milne-Edwards and Oustalet ; 

 Emu standing (Bibhotheque du Museum du Havre) ; Emu lying 

 down (Bibhotheque du Museum du Havre). 



