NEW YORK ZOOLOGICAL PARK. 165 
EMEUS. 
The Common Emeu, (Dromacus novac-hollandiae), of Aus- 
tralia, is the neighbor of the kangaroo and wallaby, and in 
form is as odd as are the majority of the birds and mammals 
of that continent of strange creatures. Its body suggests a 
pile of gray-brown hay elevated on stilts, to one end of 
which a hay-covered neck and head have been attached. The 
bird-lover should make much of this creature, for in its 
home country it has been almost exterminated. Fortu- 
nately, in climates reasonably well suited to it—but not in 
or near New York—it is possible to breed this bird in cap- 
tivity. In size the Emeu is next to the African ostrich. 
The Ceram Cassowary, (Casuarius casuarius), of the 
Island of Ceram, Malay Archipelago, represents a group 
which contains a number of well-defined species which are 
scattered through the northern cape of Australia, New 
Guinea, the Aru Islands, Ceram, and other islands of Malay- 
ana east of Celebes. They are all distinguished by their 
glossy purple or black body plumage—which looks far more 
like coarse hair than like feathers—their huge legs, and 
their helmeted heads. The differences between species are 
based chiefly upon the bright orange red and purple colors 
of their upper necks and wattles. 
In size the Cassowaries are all of them smaller than the 
emeus. In captivity they are the best of all the large cursor- 
