THE BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA. 
fig-trees, and other wild frugiferous and berry-bearing plants flourish. It may 
be seen feeding on the fallen fruits in these scrubs ; the seeds of the Ficus 
are nearly always found in their dung. Great difficulty is experienced in 
observing their habits in these wilds, since the noise made by a person in 
penetrating these thorny spots usually disturbs the bird, which makes off 
with great speed. It then lowers its head and runs with neck thrust forward, 
so that its thick horny helmet or casque will push aside the thorny brambles, 
and so save its neck, which is bare, from laceration. Its hard, glossy black 
body feathers and its strong quills growing from its flightless wings are also 
specially adapted to protect its body from scratches and injury as it forces its 
way through these dense growths. 
“ The Cassowary, timid as it naturally is, is resolute in the defence of its 
young. On one occasion I was out with a Turkey {Alectura lathami) hunter, 
when his dogs caught and killed a young Cassowary, some distance in the 
scrub from the road, when we were walking back to our buggy. Suddenly we 
heard a commotion, and out rushed the male Cassowary with a roar of anger, 
as he furiously chased the dogs back to the buggy, under which they cowered 
for protection. Espying us, the Cassowary viciously attacked me, whereupon 
the hunter had to shoot the bird to save me, since one blow or kick from the 
Cassowary would easily break a man’s leg. The leg development of the 
Cassowary is twice that of the Emu, so they can be very dangerous when roused, 
especially as the leg is armed with exceptionally long and strong toes. 
“ The Cassowary has been known to jump a fence eight feet high in order 
to fight an adversary enclosed next to it. 
‘‘ If taken from their dark shady habitat and placed in the bright sunlight 
in some enclosure, they usually go bhnd. 
“ The nest is made in the densest part of the scrub, of loose leaves, and 
usually on a spot where it would be free from surface drainage after a tropical 
downpour. The young, in their more immature stage of growth, if separated 
from their parents, keep up a piteous call. The parents when signalling their 
whereabouts make a noise something like that of a caff. 
“ Like the Emu, the Cassowary can swim when compelled to do so.” 
Lumholtz* says the Cassowary’s usual thunder-like call changes when calling 
to its young, and reminded him of the lowing of a cow to its caff. He further 
says the eggs are laid at long intervals, as in one nest he obtained a young just 
hatched, an egg almost hatched, and another that could easily be blown. 
The bird figured and described is a female from Rockingham Bay, 
Queensland. The colour of the soft parts is taken from the plate in the 
Hon. Walter Rothschild’s Monograph of the Genus Casuarius.'^ 
* Among Cannibals, p. 98 (1889). 
f Trans. Z.S., XV., PI. xxv. (1900). 
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