AUSTRALIAN CASSOWARY. 13 
but that it was difficult to obtain. In the autumn of the same year, 
Mr. G. R. Johnson, while ona visit to Rockingham Bay, shot a 
cassowary in the Gowrie Creek scrub, which he preserved and pre- 
sented to the museum of Sydney. This was subsequently identified 
with Wall’s species by Mr. Carron. In 1868, Mr. C. Scott, of 
Queensland, sent a very fine and perfect skin of the Australian bird 
to the Zoological Society, and this discovery set at rest all doubts 
which might have existed as to the distinctiveness of this species 
from the cassowary of Ceram. It was the first skin that had 
reached Europe. ‘The bird was shot by the overseer of the Herbert 
Station. 
Description.—The cassowary is the stateliest bird of Australia. 
Its eyes cannot fail to be admired ; they form its most beautiful 
feature. Their expression is defiant and proud, as that of the 
eagle’s eyes. This bird, although having three toes like the rheas 
of South America, differs from them and from the ostrich in having 
the head bare and crowned with a horny casque or helmet. When 
erect it stands 44 feet high, its length being 4} feet. The general 
plumage is black, the feathers being brown at the base, and deep 
black from about the middle to the tip, and similar in shape to those 
of the emu; at a distance they present the appearance of coarse 
hair rather than of feathers. The head is surmounted by a com- 
pressed helmet, the front height of which is about equal to its base, 
from 54 to 6} inches ; it is horn colour. The beak is black, and the 
irides rich light-brown. The skin of the neck is smooth; thin, 
soft, hair-like feathers cover it on each side. ‘The lower part of the 
neck of the living male bird is furnished with a few thick glandular 
fleshy ridges, this portion having the appearance of being fluted or 
puffed, and being of a deep blue. The skin from the bill, fringing 
the casque on the top of the head, and extending five inches down 
the back of the neck, is marine blue ; below this, still following the 
back of the neck down to the point at which the feathers become 
thick, a length of five inches, the colour is of a cinnabar-red. The 
under side of the head and throat from the bill downwards is ultra- 
marine; the small triangular portion immediately joining the 
feathers is indigo blue. At the bottom of the throat are two 
pendent caruncles or wattles of a bright-red colour, somewhat 
similar to those of the common turkey-cock ; they are about four 
inches in length. The leg is very stout and powerful. The crest of 
the Australian bird differs from that of other cassowaries in rising 
more erect from the head, and in being Brees ; it is compressed 
towards the edges. There is a marked peculiarity in the shape of 
the helmet of the males. The hinder part of the top ridge is 
wrinkled and bent over to the right, as if the growth on the hinder 
margin had been retarded, while that of the front had overgrown, 
which caused it to be wrinkled and curved. The rudimentar 
wings are provided on the right side with five long smooth shafts 
resembling those of the porcupine; a sixth, nail-like and short, 
finishes theseries. The left wing has four long and straight shafts, 
and a fifth curved one about two inches long. 
