THE MOORUK. 
Casuarius bennetti. 
Plate XLIII. 
Untie these last few years the Common Cassowary of the Moluccas ( Casuarius galeatus) was the only known 
representative of the section of the Struthious or Ostrich-like birds to which it belongs, although the existence 
of a second species of the genus in Northern Australia had been more than suspected. In the Island of New 
Britain, however, adjacent to New Guinea, in the year 1857, the commander of a small Australian vessel 
trading for tortoiseshell, obtained a living bird of this group, of immature age, which he carried away with 
him, and succeeded in landing safely at Sydney. Dr. G. Bennett, a Fellow of the Society resident at Sydney, 
for whose active support the Society have much reason to be grateful, succeeded in purchasing this bird, 
which he recognized as being of a new species, from Captain Devlin, and after sending home a drawing of 
it by the first mail, dispatched the living original, in the care of Dr. Plomley, by the earliest subsequent oppor¬ 
tunity. Whatever doubt might have existed on the receipt of the drawing, as to the distinctness of this species 
from the Common Cassowary, gave way to certainty on the arrival of the Bird. A young Common Cassowary 
of nearly the same age was placed at its side, and the difference of form in the casque, the absence of the 
throat-wattles, and the different proportions of the legs, at once settled the correctness of Dr. Bennett’s views 
on this subject. All that Captain Devlin brought in the shape of information, was that, as far as he knew, 
this Bird is limited to the Island of New Britain, that it is tolerably numerous there, and that its native name 
is “Mooruk”—evidently derived from its cry resembling that sound, or something very nearly approaching to 
it. Dr. Bennett’s note, and the drawing of the Bird, by Mr. Angas, which accompanied it, were brought before 
the Zoological Society, in December 1857, by Mr. Gould, who proposed to commemorate this discovery by 
bestowing upon the species the name of Casuarius bennetti, a compliment, such as it is, to which Dr. Bennett’s 
zeal and liberality justly entitle him. 
The Mooruk has changed in colour considerably since its arrival in England, and is evidently fast 
approaching the jetty black of the C. galeatus. Two more examples of the same species were presented by 
Dr. Bennett in the month of May, 1859, and as the individual first received proves to be a female, and com¬ 
menced laying eggs in 1860, we have some hopes of being able to breed specimens of this remarkable bird in 
this country. 
Since the discovery of the Mooruk in 1857, two further additions have been made to the list of Cassowaries, 
and singularly enough, in both cases from birds living in captivity. One of these species has been lately 
described by Mr. Blyth, the Curator of the Asiatic Society’s M useum at Calcutta, from a specimen living in a 
Menagerie in that city, and named Casuarius uni-appendiculatus, its distinguishing characteristic being the single 
pendulous wattle which adorns its throat. The other rests upon an immature bird recently acquired by the 
Zoological Society, which has the throat-wattles separate and situated far apart, and which I have therefore 
proposed to call bicarunculatus, from this circumstance. It is probable that other differences will develope 
themselves as the bird grows up. 
The islands whence those two new Cassowaries were brought are not, as yet, accurately known, but when 
proper investigations have been made, it will, doubtless, be found that each of them inhabits a particular 
locality, aud does not intrude upon its neighbour’s territory. 
Mr. Wolf’s front figure in the accompanying plate represents the first Mooruk received by the Society in 
the state of plumage in which it appeared in the autumn of 1858. The figures in the background exhibit 
some of the most characteristic attitudes of this species. 
