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STRAY NOTES ON PAPUAN ETHNOLOGY. 
By C. Hedley, F.L.S. 
I. The Cassowary Figure Head. 
(Plate lviil, fig. 1.) 
A distinctive feature of the carving of Eastern New Guinea is 
the prevalence of bird forms or their derivatives. Prof. A. C. 
Haddon devotes to the discussion of this subject a considerable 
section of his admirable essay on " The Decorative Art of British 
New Guinea."* Referring to the species depicted, he writes (p. 
197): — "I have been unsuccessful in finding out what bird is 
intended; presumably it is the frigate bird, but this will not 
account for the frequent representation of a crest." In some 
instances he thought that a hornbill was recognisable, and quotes 
Forbes' unpublished notes that occasionally a cockatoo, and in the 
Louisiades a duck, was represented. 
I submit that the evidence advanced below proves that the 
cassowary is sometimes figured, and suggests that it may be 
symbolised by the crested bird described by Haddon. On a 
priori grounds the cassowary, an important article of food, a 
source of valued bone tools, and as a dangerous quarry the theme 
of many a tale, would loom larger to the Papuan mind than the 
frigate bird. Again, if the conjoined bird and crocodile design 
be considered a scene, surely the last of all the fowls of the air to 
fall a victim to that reptile's rapacity would be the man-o'- war- 
hawk as sailors term the frigate bird. It is, however, within my 
own experience that the crane, a crested bird, may make a meal 
for crocodiles. 
Royal Irish Academy. Cunningham Memoirs. No. x. 
