HON. W. ROTHSCHILD ON THE GENUS CASUARIUS. 131 
description of it. Wallace (1857) tells us that a Cassowary (which he calls C. galeatus) 
is not at all uncommon in the Aru Islands, that the young are brought in numbers to 
Dobbo, where they soon become tame, running about the streets, and picking up all 
sorts of refuse food. It is probable that the birds he saw were mostly C. bicarun- 
culatus. A sternum only was procured by Wallace. 
Our first knowledge of the actual home of this bird is due to von Rosenberg, 
who (‘ Reis naar Zuidoostereil.’) actually shot a Cassowary on the Aru Islands on April 
15th, 1865, which he called C. galeatus, but which proved to be C. bicarunculatus. He 
tells us (from native sources) that the pairing-season is in June and July, and that the 
sexes live separate except at that time of the year: that the female makes a sort of 
rough nest and sits on the eggs for about 28 days; but both these latter reports are 
doubtless erroneous, as the observations in the Zoolozical Gardens have proved that 
it is the male alone which sits, and that the time of incubation is much longer. 
Rosenberg also tells us that not more than five eggs are found in the nest, and that 
some more eggs are placed outside the nest to serve as food for the young when 
hatched! ‘This ridiculous story—which is also told of the Ostrich—is, it is needless to 
say, Just as reliable as the former assertions. In spite of his want of knowledge of the 
habits of the birds, however, Rosenberg deserves full credit for discovering the home 
of C. bicarunculatus, which he obtained in the northern Aru Islands, Kabroor and 
Wammer. ‘The native name of this bird in Aru is “ Kudari.” Specimens have from 
time to time arrived alive in Europe, and I have now two alive, both received when 
almost chicks. 
Eggs from the Aru Islands have been described as those of C. bicarunculatus, but as 
two or three Cassowaries are found in that group of islands, there is not @ priori any 
absolute certainty about any of these eggs, which, however, do not seem to differ very 
remarkably from those of C. casuarius and its allies. ‘The egg identified as C. bicarun- 
culatus in Nehrkorn’s collection is said by Schalow (Journ. f. Orn. 1894, p. 19) to be 
from the Fly River, but in Nehrkorn’s ‘Katalog der Eiersammlung’ it is said to 
be from the Aru Islands!! It is therefore not an egg to depend on. Nehrkorn says 
that it is so dark blue-green that it resembles the eggs of Dromeus, and that it 
measures 133:90 mm. According to Schalow its glazed granulations are less 
continuous and less numerous than those of C. casuarius, but this may be an individual 
character. Schalow also distinguishes between Cassowary eggs that are * durch- 
scheinend”’ and “undurchscheinend” when held against the light; but this is by no 
means a specific difference, being mostly due to the way in which the eggs are emptied, 
and the thickness of the egg-shell varies also considerably. 
Four eggs in the Leyden Museum from Kabroor, collected by Rosenberg, have more 
or less lost their original green colour, but agree in other respects. ‘lhe corrugations 
are more or less interrupted and more or less elevated. ‘The measurements are :— 
129: 87, 132: 87, 121: 82, 129: 86 mm. 
