212 Proceedings of the Royal Physical Society. 



The young are equally attached to him, and in the great 

 difficulty which is consequently found in what may be called 

 their weaning, lies at present the chief chance of failure in 

 rearing them to maturity. In order to allow the male and 

 female to come together for the approaching breeding season, 

 the young have been separated from their male guardian. 

 Ever since, they have been inconsolable ; they eat little, and 

 instead of occupying at night the shelter prepared for them, 

 they remain both day and night at the side of the paddock 

 nearest the portion occupied by the old male. It is to be 

 feared that the rigours of winter may prove too much for 

 them should they continue in their present despondent mood. 

 The young utter a whistling cry, while both parents, and 

 not the female only, as has been commonly supposed, utter a 

 sound not unlike the muffled beating of a drum, known as 

 hooming. They are enormous feeders, but by no means par- 

 ticular as to kind or quality. The young eat herbage like 

 their parents, also bread and biscuit, crumbs mixed with 

 lettuce, and other vegetables. They cannot, however, digest 

 raw Indian corn or oats, these passing through them un- 

 changed. With regard to the rearing of the emu in Scotland, 

 I may also mention that Mr Paterson of Kestalrig Park 

 informs me that he has had four emus in his park for seven 

 or eight years past. In one season the two females laid 

 thirty-three eggs in a single nest. No attempt, however, was 

 made to sit on them. During other seasons a smaller number 

 of eggs has been laid with a like result. He has now parted 

 with one of the pairs, in the hope that the remaining male 

 may be induced to sit next season.* Eegarding the feasi- 

 bility of introducing the emu into the poultry yards of this 

 country, it is important to note the exceeding hardiness of 

 these birds. Mr Paterson, in speaking of his four emus, 

 says : " They are very hardy, going about in summer and 

 winter without shelter of any kind, disdaining all artificial 

 covering, and generally seeking shelter for the night under a 

 thick thorn tree." The fact is all the more remarkable when 

 it is remembered that the emu is a native of the tropical and 



* The author has just heard (June 1878) that this season Mr Paterson Las 

 succeeded in raising a brood. 



