1899.] noN". ^y. rotiischild ox the cassowaries. 773 



Capt. Griffard had appended the following note — " Not un- 

 common, very solitary in its habits, never seen more than 100 yards 

 from water." 



In size this Duiker closely resembled the Red Duiker of South 

 Africa (C. natalensis), and perhaps this would be found to be its 

 nearest ally, though the slate-coloured legs and dorsal stripe as 

 well as the more massive horns were distinctive of the Eed-tianked 

 Duiker. Both the Black-fronted Duiker (C. nigrifrons) from 

 Gaboon and Harvey's Duiker (C liarveyi) from East Africa were 

 much larger animals and are otherwise widely distinct. 



The Hon. Walter Rothschild, F.Z.S., read a memoir on the 

 Cassowaries, which contained notes on, and an enumeration of, the 

 species and geographical races of these birds. He also exhibited 

 the originals of the plates which are to illustrate the paper when 

 published in the Society's ' Transactions,' and made the following 

 remarks : — 



My interest in the Eatitc'B was first aroused as far back as 1876, 

 when a pair of Emus (Dromceus novce-hoUandice) were brought OA'er 

 by Mr. Cyril Elower (now Lord Battersea) from Australia and 

 turned loose in Tring Park. I well remember the universal 

 excitement at home in 1877 when the first of the beautiful dark 

 green eggs was found. Since that time Tring Park has never 

 been without some representative of the Ostrich tribe, either Rhea, 

 Emu, Apteryx, or Cassowary. 



However it was in 1890 when I first turned my attention 

 seriously to the genus Casuarms, induced to do so by the 

 abominably stuffed and grotesquely coloured specimens preserved 

 in all our museums. I proceeded to devise a method by which their 

 natural appearance could be better displayed. 



The first step was to get some alive, aud I procured two Cerara 

 Cassowaries, a Westerman's Cassowary, and two Australian Casso- 

 waries. I then, when they were in full colour, got an artist to make 

 careful drawings from life. Finally, with the help of a Cambridge 

 taxidermist, we succeeded in modelling Cassowaries so true to life 

 that a photograph from the mounted specimen was barely 

 distinguishable from one taken from life. 



In 1896 I pi-omised to work out and monograph for the 

 German Zoological Society the two families of Paradiseidce and 

 Hatiice, for their great work ' Das Thierreich.' Finding no 

 figures or descriptions, not even those of the 'Catalogue of Birds 

 in the British Museum,' of any great value to me in the work for 

 the Ratitse. I determined to get together a collection of all the 

 Ratite Birds alive. I had at the time 5 out of the 6 forms of 

 Apteryx alive ; in the Society's Gardens 2 out of the 3 forms of 

 Struthio were represented ; while at Tring I had Dromceus novce- 

 liollandue and D. irroratus, 3 Casuarii, and Rhea americana alive, 

 and Rhea macrorhyncha at the Society's Gardens. In collecting 

 the species and varieties of Cassowary during 1896, 1897, 1898, 



Proc. Zool. Soc— 1899, Xo. L. 50 



