22 THE BOOK OF BIRDS 



national bird and has its portrait on one of the postage 

 stamps of New South Wales, may be saved from ex- 

 tinction. It will be indeed a shameful thing if no attempt 

 is made to preserve it. 



Australia may claim another "Ostrich" as well as 

 the Emeu, for the CASSOWARY roams the plains of 

 Northern Queensland. It is found, however, in other 

 places, and we think of it rather as a bird of New Guinea 

 and those Eastern islands that lie scattered like the beads 

 of a broken necklace over the sea spaces between Australia 

 and Asia. 



The Cassowary is a far more handsome fellow than the 

 brown-feathered Emeu. Indeed, what with his abundant 

 glossy black hair-like feathers, his crested or helmeted 

 head, his high strong beak and "combative" eye, the 

 bright red and blue colours running down the upper part 

 of his neck, and his five or six feet of height, he has a very 

 striking appearance indeed. 



As if to mark out the Cassowary still more unmistak- 

 ably as a pugnacious bird, five featherless quills project on 

 either side of his body almost as stiffly as those of a porcu- 

 ]3ine. Also he has the family trick of dealing very sharp 

 and dangerous blows with his strong foot, the inner toe of 

 which is armed with a formidable nail which can rend and 

 bruise his assailant. 



In Australia he is rather badly persecuted, his skin 

 being in demand for doormats, coverings, and rugs. But 

 in some of the less populous islands of Malaysia, especi- 

 ally Ceram, his tribe fairly holds its own. 



The latter place, though only some two hundred miles 

 in length by fifty miles broad, has supj)lied a good many 

 specimens to Zoos and Wild Beast Shows. Its solitudes 

 give shelter to large numbei-s of this bird. " They wander," 



