^°';g^^"-] From Magazines, &c. 43 



the habits of the birds form a most interesting study. As far as 

 my personal observations go, a full clutch varies from seven to 

 eleven eggs. The greatest number I found in one nest was 

 seventeen, but in this instance I think two birds laid in one nest. 

 There is a good deal of controversy upon this point, and it is a 

 matter upon which few naturalists are able to get direct 

 evidence, but on two or three occasions I have satisfied myself 

 that a pair of females used the same nest, and have studied the 

 tracks of the birds closely in order to make sure of it. My 

 opinion is that in every case where an exceptional number of 

 eggs were found in one nest it was used by more than one 

 female. One day I found a most remarkable clutch in a nest 

 placed in dry lignum, which contained seven Emu eggs and a 

 pair of Native Companion's* eggs. I intended to watch that 

 nest closely for results, but unfortunately it was raided by an 

 egg-collector, who had no curiosity as to what would happen 

 when the Companion chicks were, in the natural course of 

 events, first hatched. These two eggs were placed in the centre 

 of the Emu clutch, and I noticed a pair of Native Companions 

 feeding in the locality. The Emu's habit of drumming near the 

 nest is one of the best aids in finding it. The female generally 

 drums in the evening, and by drawing a straight line on the 

 ground in the direction of the drumming you have a pointer in 

 searching for the nest next day. In the laying season the 

 female generally booms early in the evening, about twelve 

 resonant notes in succession, with a short interval between each. 

 The drumming of the female is loud and rather harsh towards 

 the end of the call, the note of the male sharper and more 

 distinct. Few birds of the bush take a larger share in the 

 hatching and rearing of the family than the male Emu. He is 

 the first to sit as soon as the clutch is complete, and rarely goes 

 far from the nest site from the time the first ^gg is laid until the 

 young are hatched, while the female, during the day, when she is 

 off duty, wanders over a considerable range of country. She 

 generally returns to the nest towards evening, and relieves the 

 male bird for an hour or two each night, commencing about the 

 second week and continuing from 14 to 20 nights. Afterwards 

 the male has complete charge, and though in the early stages of 

 incubation he only sits from two to four hours each day, at a 

 later period he seems loth to leave the nest even when alarmed. 

 At first, when any suspicious sound excites the vigilant male he 

 leaves the eggs at once and sneaks away stealthily through the 

 scrub. At the end of a few weeks, however, even with an 

 intruder close by, he crouches low upon the nest with his head 

 and neck flat upon the ground, and his sombre plumage is then 

 so closely in harmony with his surroundings that he is not easily 



* Antigone auslralasiana. — Eds. 



