382 THE CASSOWARY. 
The nest of the Emeu is made by scooping a shallow hole in the ground 
in some scrubby spot, and in this depression a variable number of eggs are 
laid. Dr. Bennett remarks that “ there is always an odd number, some nests 
having been discovered with nine, others with eleven, and others, again, with 
thirteen.” The colour of the eggs is, while fresh, a rich green, of varying 
quality, but after the shells are emptied and exposed to the light, the beautiful 
green hue fades into an unwholesome greenish brown. The parent birds sit 
upon their eggs, as has been related of the ostrich. The Emeu is not poly- 
gamous, one male being apportioned to a single female. : 
AMERICA is not without representatives of this fine group of birds, three 
distinct species being in the gardens of the Zoological Society. . 
THE RHEA is a native of South America, and is especially plentiful along 
the River Plata. It is generally seen in pairs, though it sometimes associates 
together in flocks of twenty or thirty in number. Like all the members of 
this group, it is a swift-footed and wary bird, but possesses so little presence 
of mind that it becomes confused when threatened with danger, runs aim- 
lessly in one direction and then in another, thus giving time for the hunter to 
; come up and shoot it, or 
bring it to the ground with 
his “bolas” —a_ terrible 
weapon, consisting of a cord 
with a heavy ball at each 
end, which is flung at the 
bird, and winds its coils 
round its neck and legs, so 
as to entangle it and bring 
it to the ground. 
The food of the Rhea con- 
sists mainly of grasses, roots, 
and other vegetable sub- 
stances, but it will occa- 
sionally eat animal food, 
being known to come down 
to the mud-banks of the 
river for the purpose of 
eating, the little fish that 
have been stranded in the 
shallows. 
THE well-known Cagso- 
WARY is found in the Ma- 
laccas. 
CASSOWARY. —(Casuarius.) This fine bird is notable 
for the glossy black hair- 
like plumage, the helmet-like protuberance upon the head, and the light 
azure, purple, and scarlet of the upper part of the neck. The “helmet” is 
a truly remarkable apparatus, being composed of a honeycombed cellular 
bony substance, made on a principle that much resembles the structure of 
the elephant’s skull, mentioned in an earlier portion of this work. 
The plumage of the body is very hair-like, being composed of long and 
almost naked shafts, two springing from the same tube, and one always 
being longer than the other. At the roots of the shafts there is a small tuft 
of delicate down, sufficiently thick to supply a warm and soft inner garment, 
but yet so small as to be hidden by the long hair-like plumage. Even the 
tail is furnished with the same curious covering, and the wings are clothed 
after a similar manner, with the exception of five black, stiff, strong, pointed 
