Nests and Eggs of Emus and Cassowary of Australia, 221 
fence and live hedge. The hatching was completed at the 
expiration of eight weeks from the time the bird commenced 
to sit, but it would depend whether the bird sat very closely 
or not if the hatching would be completed one or two days 
before or after the expiration of the eight weeks. There 
were four young birds brought out, of which two, un- 
fortunately, were drowned shortly after, and the remaining 
two are now alive and thriving admirably. The male bird 
still takes charge of the young ones, and protects and nestles 
them, and will not permit the female or any others of the 
species to approach them, and he is at times quite fierce in 
his jealous care of the young. I may say that during the 
term of incubation the female was kept out of the paddock 
in which the nest is situated for as long as a fortnight at 
a time, and was occasionally allowed to go into it, but she 
never took any part in the hatching process. The male bird, 
who was watched during the time he was sitting, was not 
seen to leave the nest during the daytime, and if he fed at 
all it must have been at night.” 
Mr Dudley Le Souéf, the Assistant-Director of the 
Zoological Gardens, Melbourne, has obligingly favoured me 
with the following significant note :—“ Female (Emu) killed 
accidentally just when finished laying. Male bird hatched 
and reared five young himself.” 
Why do Emus lay during winter, when the great majority 
of birds breed during spring and summer ?—an interesting 
question. We are aware that such birds as Finches and 
Parrots usually lay towards the end of spring or in summer, 
when the grass-seeds, etc., are ripe enough for their young. 
So I suspect the Emu, which lays during winter, because the 
eggs, taking a long term of incubation, are hatched just as 
the tender blades of grass and herbage sprout on the 
first approach of spring, and upon which the young Emus 
feed. 
I might now venture to give my Emu-nesting experiences 
in company with the hunters previously referred to. The 
locality is near the Neimur, a billabong (or ana-branch) of 
the Edwards River, and may be characterised as flat, open, 
forest country, where red-gum (Hucalyptus rostrata) fringes 
VOL. XII. Q 
