170 Proceedings. 
still possess. The young one clings to its mother—sometimes on its back, but 
often under its belly. ‘The specimen obtained appears to belong, so far as L 
have yet had the opportunity of examining, to Mr. Gould’s species the Fetaurus 
breviceps. I feed them upon bread and milk, which they seem to eat with 
avidity. 
“* Dromicia.— Small Tasmanian Species.—The small species which I had so 
long in confinement, along with specimens of D. nana, died in the beginning 
of October. LKither the food, which seemed suitable to the others, did not 
agree with it, as I suspect; or the larger animals bullied it out of this world. 
At all events, for some time it looked very thin and miserable. ‘The other 
three specimens of the larger species are still alive and thriving. 
“‘ Emu.—I obtained two emus from the Horticultural Gardens here which 
were quite tame, and placed them in the large paddock in front of my house, 
where I believed they wculd remain quiet. On the second day, whilst I was 
watching them, they stalked down through a large sheet of water, about two 
feet deep, (the marsh was at the time flooded, and the river North Esk very 
high), straight to the margin of the river, and to my surprise crossed over to 
Killafaddy. One was killed in attempting to bring it back, and the other I 
put with some wallaby and akangaroo. The forester kangaroo was excessively 
alarmed at the emu, and fora day I almost feared it would have died from 
fright. The saliva ran from its mouth, and it bounded about in all directions 
to escape the great object of its terror. They are now good friends. ‘The 
one killed was a female, and weighed 80lbs. ‘They were originally from a 
Port Phillip stock, but brought up in Van Diemen’s Land. Mr. Gould, in 
his large work on the Birds of Australia, says, that the females alone, so far as 
he knows, make a peculiar booming noise, In that case my other specimen 
is also a female,* 
“At Circular Head there are eleven tame ones; five still follow the mother, 
although the male incubates the eggs. ‘The young of last year are now nearly 
as large as their parents. 
“A leg of a Tasmanian emu is now in my possession, and so far as I can 
judge from it, asa very imperfect specimen, there are differences in the arrange- 
ment and size of the scales, which may justify the separation of the Tasmanian 
emu from that of New Holland. Still farther research and examination are 
necessary.” 
Dr. Officer exhibited an obsidian-looking substance—having much 
the form of the common bung of a cask, or cork of a wide-mouthed 
* [Captain Hepburn, of St. Paul's Plains, possesses a breed of Tasmanian emus, which 
he succeeded in rearing from eggs found many years since upon the high heathy 
land in his vicinity. Mr.J. Hepburn informs me that the booming noise is not peculiar 
to the female, and that the male bird does, though not frequently, make the same sound. 
The Tasmanian emus share the toils of incubation between the sexes, but upon the mother 
devolves the care of bringing up the young brood, to which the male parent, for the most 
part, displays an unnatural and most bitter antipathy.—J. M.] 
