The Kmu. 
5 
got (No. 2) the existing Game Laivs strictly enforced and brought 
into Line, so that it may no longer be lawful to shoot, say, ducks 
on the left-hand bank of the Murray (Victoria) up to the end of 
July, and then to shoot on the right-hand bank (N.S.W.) for a 
month later. Obviously close seasons in similar localities should 
be assimilated. 
" THE EMU." 
The Emit (with the motto " Birds of a feather ") is intended 
to be " an outward and visible sign " of union, and should prove 
of value in the good cause. It will provide a recognized means 
of intercommunication between all interested in ornithology, 
whatever their branch of that study may be, and afford all an 
opportunity of recording facts and valuable observations, and 
of giving publicity to those and their own deductions. Thus 
bird students will be kept in touch with one another, original 
study will be aided, and an Australasian want supplied. 
It will be noticed that, despite the fact that Professors A. 
Newton and R. Lydekker prefer " Emeu " in their " Dictionary 
of Birds," it has been decided, with all due deference to those 
eminent authorities, to adopt the common Australian spelling of 
*' Emu " in the title of this magazine. The reasons are, briefly, 
that this form of the word has been in use since 1774, is adopted 
by the new English Historical Dictionary, given as correct by 
Professor Morris in his " Australian English," and used by most 
of the standard authorities. It has also been embodied in the 
vernacular list of the Australasian Science Association, and is 
generally recognized as correct throughout Australia, where 
Emeu and its variant Emew are almost unknown. These 
grounds should be sufficient to stand upon, but, as kindly 
pointed out by Mr. T. S. Hall, M.A., there is the further con- 
sideration that Emeus is the title of an extinct genus of New 
Zealand struthious birds, and that when it became necessary to 
allude to members of the Dromaeidae in the plural, as Emeus, 
confusion might be caused. In conclusion, it may be mentioned 
that in the endeavour to get the fullest light on the subject an 
appeal was made to Professor Tucker, Litt. D., who so ably 
fills the chair of Classics and Philology at the Melbourne 
University, as to whether there was any classical origin for the 
word. His answer was that it has "no well-ascertained derivation," 
and that Emeu (through the current form in olden times) " was 
only a way of representing the same sound as in Emu (E-mj/oo), 
and from the phonetic point of view each is incorrect. . . . 
The question reduces itself to this — ' Shall we adopt an old, 
phonetically incorrect, and rather unsettled spelling ; or shall w^e 
adopt a spelling which, while phonetically incorrect also, has 
become usual, is rather neater in shape, and appears free from 
pedantry ?'.... I should say ' Emu.' " If The Emu 
sins as to the orthography of its name, which seems hardly 
probable, it will not be without justification. 
