HON. W. EOTHSCHILD ON THE GENUS CASTTAEIUS. 125 



The first discovery of the fact that a Cassowary existed in Australia is due to 

 Mr. Thomas Wall, who, like so many other explorers, left his bones in the waterless 

 deserts of the Australian continent. Wall procured a specimen, but this was lost, and 

 only a poor description, evidently made from memory, was published in the ' Illustrated 

 Sydney Herald' of June 3rd, 1854, by Thomas Wall's brother, William Sheridan Wall. 

 The account ran as follows : — 



"The first specimen of this bird was procured by Mr. Thomas Wall, naturalist to 

 the late expedition commanded by Mr. Kennedy. This was shot near Cape York, in 

 one of those almost inaccessible gullies which abound in that part of the Australian 

 continent. The Cassowary, when erect, stands about 5 feet high. The head is 

 without feathers, but covered with a blue skin, and, like the Emu, is almost without 

 wings, having mere rudiments. The body is thickly covered with dark brown wiry 

 feathers. On the head is a large protuberance or helmet of a bright red colour, and to 

 the neck are attached, like bells, six or eight round fleshy balls of bright blue and 

 scarlet, which give the bird a very beautiful appearance. The first, and indeed the 

 only, specimen of the Australian Cassowary was unfortunately left at Weymouth Bay, and 

 has not been recovered. Mr. Wall being most anxious for its preservation had secured 

 it in a canvas bag and carried it with him to the spot where, unfortunately for himself 

 and for science, it was lost. In the ravine where the bird was killed, as well as in 

 other deep valleys of that neighbourhood, they were seen running in companies of 

 seven or eight. On that part of the North-eastern coast, therefore, they are probably 

 plentiful, and will be met with in all the deep gullies at the base of the high hills. The 

 flesh of this bird was eaten, and was found to be delicious ; a single leg afforded more 

 substantial food than ten or twelve hungry men could dispose of at one meal. The 

 Cassowary possesses great strength in its legs, and makes use of this strength in the 

 same manner as the Emu. Their whole build is, however, more strong and heavy than 

 that of the latter bird. They are very wary, but their presence may be easily detected 

 by their utterance of a peculiarly loud note, which is taken up and echoed along the 

 gullies ; and it would be easy to kill them with a rifle." 



Most incorrect as this description is, there can be no doubt that it actually refers to 

 the Australian Cassowary, and we can therefore, in accordance with all other authorities, 

 accept the name of australis for this bird, and need not substitute that of johnsonii 

 for it. 



This form is most closely allied to the Ceram Cassowary and to Sclater's Cassowary. 

 The key, descriptions, and plates, however, will show the differences. 



This bird is known only from Northern Queensland, from Cape York south to 

 Rockingham Bay. Of no other Cassowary are we so well acquainted with the life- 

 history. The most complete description of the latter is that of Ramsay in the Proc. 

 Zool. Soc. Lond. 1876, pp. 119-123. It runs as follows: — 



" One of the chief objects of my visit to Rockingham Bay was to become acquainted 

 vol. xv. — part v. No. 3. — December, 1900. u 



