HON. W. EOTHSCHILD ON THE GENUS CASTJARITJS. 123 



" Bill much longer and straighter than in other Cassowaries. Casque horny brown, 

 green at base. Face and a broad band running down the side of the bill bluish green. 

 Base of lower mandible dark blue, with a yellow line running along one-third of the 

 length of the mandible on each side. Wattles at base of fore-neck very large, round, 

 and short, 3 x 2| inches, pale blue at base, otherwise pink all over, entirely separate 

 for their whole length, but close together. Auricular orifice larger than in any other 

 Cassowary. Throat and fore-neck bright ultramarine-blue. Occiput and upper hind- 

 neck pale greenish or eau-de-Nil blue. Lower hind-neck brilliant orange-scarlet. 

 Naked lower sides of neck magenta-purple, bordered anteriorly with ultramarine-blue, 

 posteriorly with orange-scarlet ; the magenta-purple space deeply carunculated and 

 sharply cut off from the red and blue borders, which are plain and smooth." 



The " song " of this bird is an extraordinary performance, generally as follows : — 



It lowers its head and neck and remains in this position — with head and neck 

 stretched out straight in front — for about fifteen seconds, with the bill open and 

 gradually inflating its neck, without making a sound ; then, bowing and jerking its 

 head so that the bill and wattle clap together, it emits some barking grunts, apparently 

 with great effort, the skin of the neck being then so much inflated that the wrinkles 

 become quite obscure. 



The type specimen laid an egg last year, which is, needless to say, bright green ; 

 but its shell is not properly developed, and a description of the surface and size is 

 therefore better omitted. 



7. Casuaeius casuarius australis Wall. The Australian Cassowary. (Plate XXV.) 

 1854. Casuarius australis Wall, lllustr. Sydney Herald of June 3rd; 



1857. Gould, Proc. Zool. Soc. Loud. pp. 269, 270 ; 



1858. G. R. Gray, Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond. p. 196 ; 

 1860. Scl., Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond. p. 210; Ibis, p. 310 ; 



1862. Scl., Trans. Zool. Soc. Lond. iv. p. 360; Schleg. Jaarb. zool. Genootsch. Nat. Art. Mag. 

 p. 200; 



1865. Gould, Handb. B. Austr. ii. p. 206; 



1866. Schleg., Zool. Gart. p. 180 ; Scl. Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond. p. 557 ; 



1867. Scl., Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond. p. 242 (C. johnsoni = australis) ; Bennett, Proc. Zool. Soc. 



Lond. p. 473; 



1868. Scl., Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond. p. 376; Ibis, p. 318; 



1868. Ramsay, Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond. pp. 381, 388 ; 



1869. Gould, B. Austr., Suppl. pis. 70, 71 ; Krefft, Ibis, p. 348 ; 



1870. Editors, Ibis, pp. 119, 120 ; 



1871. G. R. Gray, Hand-list B. iii. p. 2, no. 9851; Flower, Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond. p. 32 



(skeleton) ; Scl., Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond. p. 547 (in confinement); 



1873. Schleg., Mus. Pays-Bas, Struthiones, p. 9; 



1874. Ramsay, Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond. p. 325 ; 



1875. Scl., Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond. p. 85 ; 



