14 AUSTRALIAN ZOOLOGY. 
Habits.—Although it is nearly akin to the ostrich and emu, it 
does not, like these, occupy the open plains, but the thick brush- 
wood. ‘The hostility of the blacks, its shyness and retirement pre- 
vented its discovery till a comparatively recent date. It departs 
on the slightest noise, and sometimes evades its pursuers by crossing 
a creek, It frequents the gullies in the thick jungles with the 
brush turkeys and jungle fowl It sometimes traverses more open 
parts of the scrub, but it seldom ventures out on the plains. It is 
very wary, but its presence may be easily detected by its utterance 
of a peculiarly loud note, which is taken up and echoed along the 
gullies. In the rainy season it is occasionally compelled to take to 
the water. and proves itself to be a good swimmer. 
Nidification. —Cassowaries breed during August and the three 
ensuing months. The first nest procured was found by Inspector John- 
stone’s black troopers, from whom a settler on the Herbert River 
purchased some of the eggs, one of which is of a light-green variety, 
Lhe nest consists of a depression among the fallen leaves and débris, 
with which the ground in the scrubs is covered; with the addition 
of a few more dry leaves. he place selected is always in the most 
dense part, and well concealed by entangled masses of vegetation. 
The eggs were five in number in two instances recorded, and in both 
cases one of the eggs in each set differed from the others, 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 lighter green and smooth 
ground. In the pale variety, the raisings on the shell are close 
together and not so well developed. On the whole the eggs closely 
resemble Casuarius bennettii, in which similar variations are notice- 
able; but they are larger and of a greater diameter, being greatest 
in the middle. The light-green egg has a smooth shell, its dimen- 
sions being 5.3 x 3.7 inches ; the dark-green with rough shell is 5.3 
x 3.8inches. (P.ZS., 1876.) As the young are not all hatched at 
the same time, the male cares for those that are first produced, 
while the female completes her share of the incubation ; but, like 
the ostrich, he takes his turn in sitting on the eggs. The young can 
run about as soon as they leave the shell, and when all are pro- 
duced the pair jointly support the brood. In Paris, in the Jardin 
des Plantes, the Australian cassowary laid eggs and reared young. 
Food.—Herbage is its chief diet and such native fruits as it can 
find in the scrubs. During the months of July, Aug., and Sept., its 
food consists chiefly of an egg-shaped, blue-skinned berry, the fruit 
of a large tree. It frequents localities which produce large fig-trees 
in search of the fruit. It is particularly fond of the astringent fruit 
of a species of maranta, which produces bunches of large seed pods 
filled with juicy pulp, resembling in appearance the inside of a ripe 
passion fruit. 
Where found.—In Northern Queensland from the Burdekin 
River northwards to the Endeavour River, in all the large vine 
scrubs on the banks of the rivers, and on the high mountains of the 
coast. A few years ago it was plentiful in the neighbourhood of 

