392 



GEALLATOfiES, OR WADING BIEDS. 



reason for thinking that these birds might be successfully accli- 

 mated in Europe. 



The Cassowaries form a genus of birds allied to the Ostrich, 

 although they differ from it in some particulars — their shape is 

 not so elegant, and their wings are even less adapted for flight ; 



Fig. 155. — Cassowary { Struthio ciisuanus, Lmn. j. 



for so short are. they, that they are perfectly useless even to 

 assist in running. Their long blackish feathers are almost de-void 

 of side fringes, which gives them a resemblance to coarse hair ; 

 their feet are provided with three toes. This bird was called 

 the Emu by early Portuguese navigators. It is the Struthio 

 casuarius of Linnaeus, the Casuarius galeatus of Vieillot, and the 

 Cassowary of British naturalists. 



The Cassowary has a kind of helmet on its head, produced by 

 an enlargement of the bone of the skull, and covered with a horny 

 substance. It is a massively-made bird, in size between the 

 Ostrich and the Rhea, and is a native of the islands of the Jndian 



