ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY 

 BULLETIN 



Published by the New York Zoological Society 



Vol. XX. 



SEPTEMBER, 1917 



Number 5 



OUR EMU FAMILY 



By Lee S. Crandall. 



WHEN our devoted male emu first became 

 a father, his inexperience in rearing emus 

 was equalled by our own. Young 

 parents are proverbially foolish, and when a 

 mother with advanced ideas refuses to accept 

 the responsibility of caring for her offspring, 

 a domestic calamity threatens. 



But feminine slackers are quite the usual 

 thing in emu families. Ages before the first 

 lady of our own race conceived the idea that 

 she was much too busy to be bothered with the 

 care of babies, Mrs. Emu had turned over to 

 her mate the drudgery of the nursery. She 

 felt that the production of eight or nine deli- 

 cately-tinted green eggs, artistically etched over 

 with a darker shade, was burden enough for 

 one who wished to be more than a mere house- 

 hold slave. 



In Australia, emus at liberty breed from 

 April to November. Just why our birds should 

 decide that, in New York, January offered the 

 most suitable conditions, still is a mystery. At 

 any rate, our first emu egg appeared on a frosty 

 morning early in 1915. Its advent caused little 

 excitement in the emu colony. The prospective 

 father appeared unsuspicious of impending 

 fate. The mother was indifferent concerning 

 the future. Their combined intelligences were 

 unequal to the task of protecting the egg from 

 frost, and instinct had had no experience with 

 such an emergency. The egg froze and burst. 



Birds are actuated chiefly by instinct. Since 

 this influence, unaided, seemed insufficient to 

 cope with 10° Fahrenheit, reason, in the form 

 of a rounded stone coated with green paint, 



came to its assistance. The female emu was 

 persistently watched by her keepers and the in- 

 stant the next egg appeared, the stone was 

 substituted for it. Not that it really mattered, 

 for neither bird was at all interested. 



By this means, six perfect eggs were accu- 

 mulated. When instinct suddenly convinced 

 the male that nothing could be more attractive 

 than reclining on a bed formed of three large, 

 hard stones, the six eggs were entrusted to his 

 care. As already recorded,^ after many diffi- 

 culties, caused by the untried state of all the 

 principals, one baby bird was safely hatched 

 and finally reared. 



After this successful experience, we all felt 

 that emu broods would become a matter of 

 yearly routine. But we had planned without 

 proper consideration of father-love. The emu 

 was fond of his chick. There could be no doubt 

 of that. So deep was the mutual attachment 

 that neither bird could endure life beyond the 

 sight of the other. As autumn approached, we 

 viewed the strength of this feeling with some 

 misgivings, for the period of courtship was ap- 

 proaching, and there was no indication that 

 filial affection would tolerate encroachment. 



In November, it became evident that father 

 and son must be separated if the mother was 

 to be restored to her rightful position. The 

 chick, now well grown, was driven into an ad- 

 joining corral, separated by a wire fence. An 

 emu's method of combatting material obstacles 

 is to kick, hard. A wire fence is a dangerous 

 antagonist, because it is too spring^^ to be af- 

 fected bv a blow, but is very likely to enmesh 



' In Australia the summer month of January is the equivalent of our July. M. G. 

 2 Bulletin, Vol. XVIII, No. 5, September, 1915. 



1521 



