ORDER GRALL.t. 443 



easily bear the voyage, there have been always some emus in 

 Europe ever since that period. 



Of the New Holland Cassoivary, the bill of which is 

 depressed, while that of the other is compressed laterally, 

 M. Vieillot has formed a separate genus, under the name of 

 Emou, or Dromaius. White has given a figure of this bird 

 in his account of his voyage to New South Wales. 



Perron has represented the young, as well as the adult. 

 The eggs are of a fine green, and about the bulk of the eggs 

 of the emu. 



This cassowary is tolerably common in the environs of 

 Botany Bay and Port Jackson. It is very wild, and runs 

 faster than a greyhound. Its flesh is not so ill-flavoured as 

 that of the emu, and has a taste somewhat resembling that of 

 beef. 



Though our author has rejected, and probably with justice, 

 the DiDus of Linnaeus from the animal kingdom, a brief 

 notice of what authors have told us concerning these supposed 

 birds, may prove not unentertaining to our readers. 



The Dodo, or Dronte, in French (Didus Itieptns), has 

 been described and figured in many works, though its exist- 

 ence has been called in question by many writers. We 

 shall give a short analysis of the facts relative to its dis- 

 covery. 



The Hollanders, who, in 1598, fitted out a fleet commanded 

 by Admiral Comelisz Van Neck, landed at the Isle of 

 France, then generally called Mauritius, and before that 

 known under the name of Ilha do Cirne, or Cisne, Avhich 

 had been imposed upon it by the Portuguese, and signifying 

 the isle of swans. They there found birds as bulky as a 

 swan, which had on a very thick head a sort of capote of 

 skin, and but three or four black feathers in the place of 

 wings, and four or five small greyish feathers, and frizzled, 

 instead of a tail. These birds were named by the Dutch 



