NEW YORK ZOOLOGICAL PARK. 



165 



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EMEUS. 



The Common Emeu, (Dromacus novae-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 arc 

 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- 



