320 
of confinement, taking one of her companions with her. They had disappeared in a deep fern-gully 
and we naturally thought we had seen the last of them. But the birds had been liberally fed during 
their imprisonment and this taste of civilization was sufficient, after a day’s absence, to bring them 
back again into the township. The following morning the male bird was found in the back-yard of a 
chemist’s shop, where he was causing consternation among the fowls, whilst Madam Jumbo deliber- 
ately marched up the hill into the Constabulary Barracks and made for the officers’ quarters, where 
she was overheard, at daybreak, patrolling the Captain’s verandah (tapping the boards gently with 
her bill), and was immediately “ put under arrest.” 
We kept some of these birds in confinement for a period of six months or more for the purpose 
of studying more closely their habits and peculiarities of character. Individuals were found to vary 
much in disposition. Some adapted themselves at once to their new surroundings and became 
perfectly tame and familiar ; others continued, to the last, w'ild and shy. One male in particular 
manifested a sulky temper : instead of running off with the rest to hide in a dark corner it would 
poise its body on its bill and feet and remain perfectly motionless till approached, when it would 
bristle up its feathers, stretch up its body, and strike forward with its feet, at the same time snapping 
audibly with its mandibles and uttering a Ioav growling note. The conduct of these birds was appre- 
ciably affected by their condition of health : a sickly bird was always restless during the day, and 
walked about in the sunlight in a desultory fashion ; whereas the healthy ones, on being brought to 
the light, would dart off to the nearest dark corner and endeavour to secrete themselves. The state 
of the weather seemed likewise to affect their spirits : on dark and wet nights they w^ere particularly 
active and noisy ; on moonlight nights they were generally silent. The cry consists of a short, shrill 
whistle, not so prolonged as that of the Woodhen, nor so sharp and clear. Usually the sexes cry in 
response, the male leading off with his shrill ki-i-wi-i, and his mate replying in a peculiar half whistle, 
half scream ; this is repeated four or five times in succession between the hours of 9 and 10, and the 
birds, as a rule, are silent for the rest of the night. Occasionally, and apparently when under excite- 
ment, they keep up these responsive calls for fifteen or twenty minutes without cessation. The young 
or hailf-grown birds also call to each other, the male in a thinner whistle and the female in a 
thick husky w'ay. These captive birds ate fresh meat, soaked bread, and boiled potato with avidity, 
and several of the young ones died of sheer obesity. 
My investigations on the spot enabled me to determine one important fact with certainty, namely, 
that, as with the Mooruk, the Cassowary, the Emu, and the Rhea (all of Avhich have bred in the 
Zoological Society’s Gardens), the male bird alone performs the labour of incubation, and takes upon 
himself the entire charge of the young till they are old enough to shift for themselves. There is 
indeed an equitable division of labour after the pairing has commenced. The female, without any 
■assistance from her mate, digs or scoops out a nesting-place, usually adapting to her requirements an 
existing hole or cavity in the ground, forms a rude nest and deposits her two eggs. Having done 
this she walks off and disclaims all further responsibility, abandoning her mate to his share of the 
parental duty, and (so the natives allege) immediately pairing with another male and forming a new 
nest elsewhere. 
The breeding-season evidently extends over a considerable period. Of the ten eggs collected by 
our party during the first week of November, nine contained well-developed chicks, some of them just 
ready for exclusion, and the tenth was perfectly fresh. The very young bird figured on page 326 and 
the egg purchased from the natives were taken from one hole, and the male bird was still sitting. 
From the condition of the chick, I judged that it undisturbed it would have been hatched out in 
another day or two ; it was alive and active when the shell was opened, although the egg had been 
out of the nest for several days. Some of the young birds taken by us were apparently about two 
months old. I think it probable that there are two broods in the season, inasmuch as one of our 
