84 TEE ZOOLOGIST. 



feathers being brown for about two-thirds of their length, with a 

 blackish-brown tip. The crown of the head was quite black, as 

 were also the feathers of the neck and throat. The legs of the 

 Black Emeu during life are said to have been of a dirty bluish 

 colour, but I found that in the dry state they did not materially 

 differ from those of a Common Emeu, with which I compared 

 them at the time. According to Latham, D. ater had the iris of 

 a brown colour, thus resembling the common species rather than 

 D. irroratus. 



The history of the Black Emeu is soon told. In 1803 a 

 French scientific expedition under Captain Baudin landed on 

 Kangaroo Island. Baudin himself took a great interest in 

 natural history, and had sent a rich collection of specimens — 

 both zoological and botanical — to the Jardin des Plantes only a 

 few years previously. On this occasion he had the valuable 

 assistance of Peron, the celebrated zoologist, and it is to the 

 work of this expedition that scientific Europe is indebted for 

 almost all' its knowledge of the Black Emeu. Kangaroo Island 

 was uninhabited by man, but abounded in the marsupials from 

 which it took its name, and there were also great numbers of 

 D. ater — " Casoars," as the Frenchmen called them. By a 

 happy chance it was determined, if possible, to bring away some 

 of the pigmy Emeus alive ; had it not been for this haphazard 

 resolution, the species we are now considering would probably 

 never have been known at all to naturalists. Three birds were 

 taken alive, and it speaks well for the intelligent care taken of 

 them during the long voyage home, that they all arrived safely 

 at Paris in 1804-5. One of these Emeus was placed in the 

 menagerie of the Jardin des Plantes, where it continued to 

 thrive for many years ; the other two, with a Zebra, a Monkey, 

 and a large collection of plants, were destined for the Em- 

 press Josephine. The Empress's Emeus were sent to her 

 residence of La Malmaison, and at their death one of them — 

 indeed, probably both — was placed in the Jardin des Plantes 

 Museum. 



It is interesting and indeed satisfactory to note that the 

 Black Emeu, rare as it was, did not become extinct before 

 specimens had been brought alive to London and examined by 

 an English ornithologist. Dr. Latham tells us that a pair which 



