EMU-WREN. 
the name of Merion Binnion to this bird, on account of the great resem- 
blance of its tail to the feathers of the Cassowary.” 
As Davies, though a wonderful collector, great artist and fine ornitho- 
logist, did not profess systematics, he allowed G. Shaw, the Keeper of 
Zoology of the British Museum, to give a Latin designation to this extra- 
ordinary species. 
The next note is that published by Vigors and Horsfield : ‘‘This bird” 
Mr. Caley observes, “ is called Emu Bird by the colonists. The native name 
is Wawguljelly. I have never known it called Merion Binnion , as published 
in the Linnean Society Transactions . The native name of an Emu is Murring. 
The species is an inhabitant of scrubs, which are principally composed of 
different kinds of Banksia , particularly where the ground is moist or 
inclining to be marshy. The natives tell me it may be run down. It has 
a small shining black eye, with a hazel-brown iris.” 
Gould’s notes read : “ The Emu- Wren is especially fond of low marshy 
districts covered with rank high grasses and rushes, where it conceals itself 
from view by keeping near the ground in the midst of the more dense parts 
of the grassbeds. Its extremely short round wings ill adapt it for flight, 
and this power is consequently seldom employed, the bird depending for 
progression upon its extraordinary capacity for running, in fact, when the 
grasses are wet from dew or rain, its wings are rendered perfectly unavailable. 
On the ground it is altogether as nimble and active, its creeping, mouse- 
like motions, and the extreme facility with which it turns and bounds over 
the surface, enabling it easily to elude pursuit, and amply compensating 
for the paucity of its power of flight. The tail is carried in an erect position, 
and is even occasionally retroverted over the back.” 
Ramsay later found its eggs and gave the following notes : “ The only 
note of the bird, besides a slight chirp when flushed and separated, \ is a 
slight twitter, not unlike a faint attempt to imitate the M alurus cyaneus. 
While in the swamp, which at the time was nearly dry, I observed several 
separate flocks ; of these some were hopping along the ground, picking up 
something here and there ; others, whose appetites seemed appeased, were 
creeping along through the reeds about a foot from the ground, but as the 
reeds thickened I soon lost sight of them. They seldom took wing, except 
when disturbed, and not always then, seeming very averse to showing themselves. 
While watching them I observed one now and then hop to the top of a tall 
reed as if to get a glimpse of the world above. Upon coming suddenly 
upon a flock and following them, they keep to the reeds just in front of you, 
and never take wing unless hard driven, when they separate and do not 
collect again for some time.” 
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