262 AUSTRALIAN AND TASMANIAN ANIMALS 



laid, but soon fade to earthy brown. They are laid in the mound in tiers, with 

 four in the basement tier ; between each tier is a layer of sand 3 or 4 inches 

 thick, and the eggs in the same tier are separated from one another by from 

 6 to 12 inches of the same material, and placed near the solid wall of decaying 

 vegetable matter bounding the egg-chamber. The eggs are always placed with 

 the narrow end downwards, so that when hatching the head of the chick, which 

 occupies the larger end, will be uppermost. 



Cassowary The ostrich-like birds have two representatives in Australia, of 



and Emeu, which the Australian cassowary (Gastoarius australis) belongs to a 

 comparatively widespread group, more fully discussed in the chapter on the 

 Papuan fauna. The second species is the emeu (Dromceus novce-liollandice), 

 which appears to be the sole existing representative of its genus, the so-called 

 D. irroratus of Western Australia being, in the opinion of a local naturalist, not 

 entitled to rank even as a distinct race. This well-known bird, which is ex- 

 clusively Australian, comes next in point of size to the ostrich. In colour it is 

 greyish brown, with the upper part of the bare neck bluish ; and the plumage 

 is long and shaggy, except on the nape of the neck, where it is replaced by short 

 down. In the early days of Australian colonisation emeus abounded on the grassy 

 plains, where they might be seen in the mornings searching for the grass and 

 other herbage which, with roots and fruits, form their chief nutriments. At the 

 present day emeus have, however, retreated to the interior, where they can still 

 wander without molestation. Equal to the great grey kangaroo in point of speed, 

 these giant birds will run till they succumb from sheer exhaustion, and when 

 occasion arises do not hesitate to plunge into and swim across even wide rivers. 



Although emeus commonly associate in small flocks, each cock mates with a 

 single hen, whom he relieves from the duties of incubation by sitting on the dark 

 green, granulated eggs himself. From nine to ten is the usual number of eggs in 

 a clutch ; and the chicks, like those of the ostrich group generally, are longi- 

 tudinally striped, much after the fashion of those of their relatives the game-birds. 

 During the breeding-season the hen utters a strange, subdued call, produced by 

 means of a pouch, peculiar to her sex, communicating with the windpipe. Not 

 only is the hen superior in size to her mate, but she is also more courageous and 

 more prone to quarrel ; the cock, on the other hand, is a swifter and at the same 

 time a more gracefully built bird. 



In former days certain islands in Bass Strait, such as Kangaroo Island and King- 

 Island, together with Tasmania, were severally inhabited by species distinct from 

 Dromceus novce-hollandice of the mainland. Both the Kangaroo Island D. 'peroni 

 or D. ater and the King Island D. minor were darker than the mainland bird, the 

 first being distinguished from the second by its less robust build. The Tasmanian 

 emeu, which survived in numbers until at least as late as 1840, is still insufficiently 

 described, but appears to have differed in colour from each of the other three species, 

 and also laid eggs of a distinctive character. 



Among the rich reptilian fauna of Australia it is possible to 



refer only to a few of the more interesting types. Crocodiles are 



represented by Crocodilus £)orosus, a rather narrow-snouted species, ranging from 



India, Ceylon, and the south of China to northern Australia and the Solomon and 



