Order GASUARIIFOBMES 
No. 4. 
Family DROMMIDM. 
DROMAIUS MINOR. 
KING ISLAND EMU. 
(Plate 4.) 
Drom^tjs minor Spencer, Viet. Nat., XXIII., p. 140 (1906), King Island. 
Casuarius novce-hollandice (not Latham) Peron, Voy. Decouv. aux Terres Austr., II., p. 19, 
PI. XXXVI., left-hand fig. (1816). 
? Van Diemen's Cassowary Lath., Gen. Hist. B., VIII., p. 384, PI. CXXXVIII. (1823). 
Dromoeus novce-hollandice A. G. Campbell, Emu, III., p. 113 (1903). 
Dromceus minor Spencer, Viet. Nat., XXIII., p. 140 (1906) ; A. J. Campbell, in Mathews’ 
Handl. B. Austral., p. 5, note (1908) ; Spencer and Kershaw, Mem. Nat. Mus. 
Melbourne, No. 3 (1910). 
Dromceus hassi Legge, Emu, VI., p. 119 (1907). 
Dromaius minor Rothschild, Extinct Birds p. 237 (1907). 
Distribution. Formerly King Island ; now extinct. 
Adult male. “ The bill is broad at the gape, lessening by degrees to the point, where it is 
a trifle bent ; the nostrils placed near the edge, about the middle ; colour dusky-blue ; 
the space round the eye and some parts of the neck bare, and of the same colour as 
the bill ; hides brown ; the top of the head and hind-part clothed with a few 
stragghng crisped feathers or hairs, the rest of the neck and breast covered with very 
long and loose brown feathers, which are, in the male, nearly white on the fore part ; 
and when the bird walks with the head drawn backwards, gives a remarkable fulness 
to the breast ; the rest of the bird is dark brown, with a tinge of blue or blue-grey, 
and the feathers everywhere loose and long, with the webs not attached as in the 
Common species \D. novce-hollandicel ; and also having two feathers from one quill, 
totally conceal any appearance of wings or tail ; there is, however, a wing, or what may 
be called such, being a round stump, two inches in length, with a spur at the end, a 
httle bent, having feathers on the sides, giving the appearance of a short wing, but 
by no means discoverable while the bird is in a quiescent state ; the legs are stout, 
of a dirty bluish colour, and appear to come out of the middle of the body, in the 
manner of a Duck or Goose, the thighs not at all visible, as in the New Holland species, 
and the toes are placed all three forwards, as in that bird.” 
F emale. “ The female is much like the male, but the bare parts about the head incline more 
to brown, and the loose feathers on the neck and breast less full and brown.” 
Immature. “ The young, when about three weeks old, are striped longitudinally brown and 
white, and in five or six weeks become wholly plain brown.”* 
Nest and Eggs unknown. 
* Latham, Gen. Hist. B., VIII., p. 384 (1823), obviously copied from Lesueur’s plate. 
No specimen exists of this species. 
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