SHORT-WINGED CURSORIAL BIRDS. 309 



Cassowary, and " apparently peculiar to Australia, or at any rate affords no support to the theory of 

 the former union of Australia with the northern islands." 



There is fortunately a young specimen of the Ceram Cassowary nearly of the same size as this 

 young Australian one, and they are both of the same light, rusty brown colour, the Casuarms 

 Australis being rather redder on the head and slightly blacker on the back than the C. galeatus. 

 In neither specimen is the helmet developed. On comparing the two specimens, the tarsi of the 

 Ceram species were found to be rather stronger than those of the C. Australis, and the left inner claw 

 of the Ceram specimen half an inch shorter than the right one, one side agreeing with the Australian 

 species. The little feathers on the two caruncles on the throat are nearly black in C. Australis, but 

 much lighter in C. galeatus. Two distinctive characters are, however, shown by these specimens, not 

 noticed before. The bill of the Australian Cassowary is much more slender than that of the Ceram 

 bird ; both mandibles, taken together vertically, being one-third deeper in the Indian species than in 

 the Australian one, while the plumage of the latter is much looser than the former, from having the 

 lateral barbs much fewer or further apart. 



There can now be no doubt of the distinctness of the Queensland species, although very closely 

 allied to that with which it has been compared, and also to the Mooruk of New Britain. 



According to a correspondent in the Sydney Herald, those who obtained the adult bird state 

 that they saw it running about in companies of seven or eight, in deep valleys at the foot of high 

 hills. The flesh was eaten and found to be excellent — a single leg affording more food than several 

 hungry men could dispose of at a meal. The whole build of this Cassowary is stronger and hea^der 

 than that of the Emu ; it makes use of its powerful legs in the same manner as tliat bird. It is 

 described as very wary, but its presence may be at once detected by its utterance of a peculiarly 

 loud note, which is taken up and echoed along the gullies it principally frequents. 



The KIVIS {Aj>teryges) bear but little resemblance to any of the members of their order as 

 yet described. They are distinguishable by their compact body, short thick neck, comparatively 

 short and four-toed foot, the entire absence of the tail, and the merely rudimentary development 

 of the wings. Their plumage consists of long, lancet-shaped, flowing, and glossy feathers, which 

 increase in size from the neck downwards, and have a somewhat loose web. The bill is very long, 

 covered at the base with a long cere, and rather depressed, with the tip of die upper mandible over- 

 hanging the lower portion ; the small nostrils are situated at the extremity of the beak. The legs 

 are strong and short ; the anterior toes long, powerful, and armed with formidable claws ; the thick, 

 short, hinder toe does not touch the ground, and is furnished with a still stronger claw resembling 

 the spur of a Barn-door Cock. The tarsi and feet are covered with scales of various sizes. 



These birds are strictly a New Zealand family. The first Apteryx seen in England was presented 



to Dr. Shaw in 181 2, and after his death passed into the possession of the Earl of Derby. No other 



specimen was seen in Europe for more than twenty years, and its existence was therefore doubted 



by naturalists until 1833, when Mr. Yarrell read a most interesting paper on the subject before the 



Zoological Society, and established the family among accredited species. These strange birds, which 



at the first glance somewhat resemble a quadruped in appearance, are, it is said, wholly nocturnal in 



their habits, searching for food during the night, and moving activel}', but with a most uncouth gait 



(see Plate), from place to place. 



THE KIVI-KIVI. 



The Kivi-Kivi [Apteryx Australis) has the plumage principally of a greyish brown, which is 

 darkest on the back. The wing-quills are soft and rudimentary, and the face covered with soft 

 hairs. This species is thirty inches long ; the bill, from the base of die forehead to the tip, six 



