THE BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA. 
Exploring Expedition.’ The note, most usually emitted by the male, is a 
series of harsh guttural prolonged croakings, quickly repeated, and continued 
for about three minutes ; it is very loud, and may be detected across the water 
at a distance of at least three miles on a still night. I have listened to it resounding 
through the scrubs at a distance of one-and-a-half miles on land, and then thought 
it close, and one of the most unearthly noises I ever heard. They breed during the 
months of August and September. The first nest procured was found by some 
of Inspector Johnstone’s black troopers, from whom Mr. Mill er, a settler on the 
Herbert River, purchased some of the eggs. One which he kindly presented to 
me is of the light-green variety mentioned hereafter. The nest consists of a 
depression among the fallen leaves and debris with which the ground in the 
scrubs is covered, with the addition of a few more dry leaves. The place 
selected is always in the most dense part, and well concealed by entangled 
masses of vegetation. The eggs were five in number in the only two instances 
recorded ; and in both cases one of the eggs in each set differed from the other, 
being of a light-green colour, and having a much smoother shell. The others 
all have a rough shell, covered rather sparingly with irregular raised patches 
of dark but bright green on a lighter-green and smooth ground. In the pale 
(No. I) variety these raisings on the shell are closer together, and not so well 
developed ; in both varieties they are more thinly spread over the central 
portion than at the ends. On the whole they closely resemble the eggs of 
Casuarius hennettii, in w’hich similar variations are noticeable ; but they are 
larger, and of a greater diameter, being greatest in the middle. I am indebted 
to Inspector Robert Johnstone for the fine series of the eggs of this species 
which at present grace mj collection. 
“ The young of Casuarius australis are of a dull rusty brown, the feathers 
having frequently a blackish shaft-stripe, giving to the back a streaked 
appearance. After the first year the plumage takes a deeper lighter brown 
hue, and black feathers begin to appear, mixed with brown, some being parti- 
coloured. After the second season, at the age of 18 to 24 months, 
the black feathers predominate, and the helmet, which has hitherto 
been undeveloped, more like the shield of a Coot (Fulica), begins to show a 
keel or ridge in the centre, which rapidly increases in height. The skin round 
the head, on which still remain a few brownish hair-hke feathers, begins to 
become wrinkled and coloured, varying from bluish-green to orange on the 
lower part, and bright blue on the sides of the neck, the wattles becoming 
carmine. The helmet still remains comparatively small and undeveloped 
long after the wattles and naked parts of the neck become coloured. I believe 
that the helmet does not attain its full size until the fourth or fifth year at least. 
In traversing the scrubs the head is carried low to the ground, and the vines and 
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