148 HON. W. EOTHSCHILD ON THE GENUS CASUAKIUS. 



20. Casuarius bennetti maculatus, subsp. nov. 



Casque high, much depressed posteriorly, and sharply ridged. Plumage black ; 

 bill long, arched, and pointed ; inner claw long. (This bird was first identified by me 

 as a second specimen of C. picticollis hecM.) Occiput and hind-neck bright indigo- 

 blue ; sides of head, face, and the fore-neck paler and brighter blue. On the lower 

 part of fore-neck is a large round patch, 1^ inches in diameter and of a rosy-purple 

 colour. Naked lower sides of neck rosy purple : from and below the ear-hole 

 extending to the gape is a large white patch washed with rose-colour. 



Hab. unknown. 



This form may eventually prove to be only a colour-aberration of C. bennetti ; but, 

 so long as we do not know the exact habitat of every species and subspecies of 

 Cassowary, and the full extent of their individual variation, I consider it right to name 

 and describe this bird as a subspecies of C. bennetti. The type is now living in the 

 Society's Gardens, and was fully adult when it was imported. It seems to be a male, 

 and is not so wild as my specimens of true C. bennetti usually were. 



