1872.] MR. P. L. SCLATER ON KAUP's CASSOWARY. I'd/ 



6. On Kaup's Cassowary (Casuarius kaupi), and on the other 

 known Species of the Genus. By P. L. Sclater, M.A., 

 Ph.D., F.R.S., Secretary to the Society. 



[Keceived January 23, 1872.] 



(Plate IX.) 



In the 'Journal fur Ornithologie' for 1861 (p. 44) Hr. v. Rosen- 

 berg described a new species of Cassowary, of which one of his 

 hunters had obtained a specimen on the western coast of Salawatty — 

 and proposed to call it Casuarius kaupi. H. v. Rosenberg particu- 

 larly states that his example was an old male, and distinguishes it 

 from Casuarius yaleatus by the entire absence of any throat-wattles, 

 besides other noticeable differences. 



In 1 866 I communicated to this Society an extract from a letter 

 received from our Foreign Member Dr. Schlegel, stating that Bern- 

 stein had lately collected, for the Leyden Museum, on Salawatty and 

 the adjoining coast of New Guinea seven specimens of a Cassowary, 

 which turned out to be Casuarius uniappendiculatus — and that Prof. 

 Schlegel had come to the conclusion that the so-called Casuarius 

 kaupi was merely the young of this species, the " single caruncle 

 not being developed in the younger bird" (see P. Z. S. 1866, 

 p. 168*). This view, especially seeing that the two supposed spe- 

 cies had been obtained in the same locality, I was at that time quite 

 disposed to coincide with ; and it was adopted by Mr. Gould when 

 he figured Casuarius uniappendiculatus in the ' Supplement to the 

 Birds of Australia' (plates 74 and 75). Recently, however, I have 

 convinced myself that it is, in all probability, incorrect. 



Last summer we received in exchange from the Zoological Society 

 of Amsterdam (as already recorded in these 'Proceedings,' 1871, 

 p. 627) a Cassowary, not quite adult, which had been captured in 

 1869 near Munsinamf, on the north coast of New Guinea. Mr. 

 Westerman had previously written to me about this bird, telling me 

 that he considered it to belong to an undescribed species. Never- 

 theless, from the locality, I was at first inclined to believe that it 

 might be possibly the youug of Casuarius uniappendiculatus, al- 

 though I knew that Mr. Westerman (who was well acquainted with 

 the latter species from having had a fine living example of it long in 

 his possession) was not of that opinion. After further examination 

 and comparison, however, I quite convinced myself that it could not 

 he C. uniappendiculatus, being so much smaller in size than that 

 large species, and, though very nearly adult, showing no traces 

 whatever of a gular caruncle. It then occurred to me that our 

 bird might be C. kaupi of Rosenberg, and that Dr. Schlegel might 

 have been in error in regarding this species as the young of C. uni- 

 appendiculatus. Our bird certainly agreed very fairly with Rosen - 



* See also Schlegel, in ' Ned. Tijdschr.' iii. p. 250. 



t This village is marked in the map in vol. i. of Mr. Wallace's ' Travels.' It 

 is near Havre Dorey. 



