Oil the Successful Rearing in Scotland of the Emu. 211 



the habit and disposition of the young emus, they are, as I 

 gather from ]\Ir Bell, exceedingly shy and suspicious ; when 

 anything is thrown to them to \Yhich they are unaccustomed, 

 they will advance and retire several times before touching it. 

 Their curiosity, however, is exceedingly gi'eat. They are re- 

 markably playful, and seem to have considerable powers of 

 imitation, thus : when some lads got into the paddock, and 

 began performing somersaults, the young emus were observed 

 to throw themselves on their backs, in the vain attempt to 

 imitate tlie unfeathered bipeds. Dr Bennett, in his " Gather- 

 ings of a Xaturalist in Australasia," notices the same faculty 

 of mimicry in adult emus. At times the young emus form 

 themselves into a group, and begin what, Avithout any great 

 stretch of the imagination, might be supposed to be a war- 

 dance ; they then, as if moved by a sudden impulse, take to 

 running, and career round the paddock at the top of their 

 speed, only desisting when utterly exhausted and gasping for 

 breath. The specimen exhibited was supposed to have broken 

 its leg while rushing headlong through a narrow gap in a 

 hedge which divides the paddock, having probably come in 

 collision with one of the hawthorn stumps. It was killed on 

 October l(3th, being then four and a half months old, and 

 standing two and a half feet high. The others, now nearly 

 six months old, stand about a foot higher. The male bird 

 performed the entire labour of hatching and rearing the brood, 

 the female, as already mentioned, being placed apart from the 

 male during the period of incubation to prevent the destruc- 

 tion of the eo'os. On admittino- the female after the brood 

 appeared, the young instinctively sought tlie protection of the 

 male bird, and not without cause, as the female, actuated pos- 

 sibly by jealousy, evidently wished to do them injury. The 

 cock, however, seemed equally anxious to prevent this, and 

 to punish its mate, and it was again found necessary to 

 separate the couple, the male, however, twice leapt over the 

 intervening fence during the ten days succeeding the hatching, 

 in order to renew the attack on its partner. The aftection of 

 the male emu for its young, its tender solicitude for their 

 safety, and its boldness in defending them against all comers, 

 ^Ir Bell says he has never seen equalled in any other bird. 



