IN CAPTIVITY IN LOWER BENGAL. 345 



Treatment in health. 



Housing.— A well-drained grassy lawn with trees here and there to 

 afford shade during the blazing hot days of summer, and a small shed 

 to shelter them in bad weather, are all that is necessary for cassowaries; 

 a light fencing, about 4 feet 6 inches to 5 feet high, is enough to keep them 

 in; stout wire-netting of a somewhat wide mesh had better be used in 

 building the enclosure, as otherwise they are apt to kick and peck through 

 the bars. Their former habitations in this garden having proved unhealthy, 

 they are now accommodated in an enclosure used as paddock for rumin- 

 ants, and seem to be doing well. In giving them accommodation low 

 damp grounds should be avoided ; during the cold winter nights it is 

 better to shut them in. 



Food. — Cassowaries thrive on vegetables, fruits, and roots ; ignorant 

 dealers feed them on boiled rice and potatoes, and some of the birds 

 take such a fancy to this diet that they refuse any other food offered 

 them. In captivity young birds thrive well on bread and biscuits, which 

 can always be safely given in conjunction, or alternately, with fruits and 

 vegetables ; boiled rice should be strictly avoided. Some cassowaries have 

 been observed to eat insects. 



Breeding. — Cassowaries have never laid in this garden, but a few 

 years ago they bred in the menagerie of the late Bajah Eajendra 

 Mullick of Calcutta. 



Transport. — The battened cages in which cassowaries are imported 

 are unsafe : strong plank cages should be provided for a long journey. 



Treatment in sickness. 



Inflammation of the lungs ; bronchial catarrh ; inflammation of the 

 entire mucous lining of the mouth* and diarrhoea have been met with 

 in the cassowaries exhibited here; treatment is seldom of any avail 

 when the disease gets real hold of an animal ; but to alleviate suffering 

 remedies already recommended in similar cases may be tried. 



Observations on the habits of Cassowaries. 



The female cassowaries are generally more pugnacious and ill- 

 tempered than the males; nevertheless they all become remarkably 

 tame within a short time. They are very lively animals, and often 

 indulge themselves in kicking and jumping. When fighting they kick 

 with great force and energy. 



(400) THE EMU. 

 (DROMiEUS TSQNM HOLLANDS- Vieill.) 



Description. — "In form it closely resembles the ostrich, but is 

 lower on the legs, shorter in the neck, and of a more thick-set and 



* See under Emu, No. 400. 



