The AUSTRALIAN CASSOWARY (_Casuarius Australis_). This bird stands about
five feet high; the head is without feathers, but covered with a blue
skin. Like the Emu, it is almost wingless, its wings being mere rudiments.
The body is thickly enveloped in dark brown wiry feathers; on the head is
a large prominence, or helmet, of bright red colour, and to the neck are
attached, like so many bells, six or eight round fleshy balls, of bright
blue and scarlet, which give the bird a very beautiful appearance.
This Cassowary has never been brought to Europe, only one specimen having
been until recently obtained, which unluckily was lost shortly after its
capture. A communication from P. A. Eagle, Esq., with which we have been
kindly favoured, will best explain the importance attached by scientific
men to the discovery of this Australian species.
"Compared with Asia," says Mr. Eagle, "Australia presents the greatest
contrast in its natural productions to be found between any two zoological
regions of the earth; and yet the line which separates these two great
provinces actually passes between two of the islands forming part of
the great volcanic chain running from Sumatra to Timor, namely, the
island of Bali on the west, and Lombock on the east, separated from each
other by no more than fifteen miles; so that within a two hours' sail,
without losing sight of land, you pass from Bali, full of Fruit Thrushes,
Woodpeckers, and the general ornithology of Asia, to Lombock, where
the Cockatoos, Honey-eaters, Brush Turkeys, and other members of the
Australian fauna, appear suddenly in full force. The forests of Australia
are destroyed by myriads of timber-boring larvæ of various insects; but
on the whole area there is not to be found a single Woodpecker, or any
bird to do its office; yet, in the same latitudes, in any other part of
the world, Woodpeckers occur in special kinds for each great district in
abundance, wherever forest trees grow, their function being to pick out
those timber-eating larvæ from the wood. The entire absence of the whole
family of True Pheasants and Vultures, found in numbers in any other
great region of the earth, is also a striking negative character of the
ornithology of Australia; whilst its innumerable Honey-eaters, Cockatoos,
and Brush-tongued Lories, found in no other region, give to it an equally
marked positive character.
"The very deep sea surrounding Ceram, and other islands which constitute
the appendages, as it were, of Asia on one side and Australia on the
other, suggests a curious problem to the naturalist as to how they got
their inhabitants. Great interest, therefore, attaches to the recent
discovery of a Cassowary in Australia, as yet only imperfectly known,
and so nearly related to the Cassowary of Ceram that doubts have been
expressed as to their distinctness. They are both incapable of flight,
the wings being represented by five or six bare, cylindrical, pointed
quills, like those of a porcupine, and, consequently, the bird could not
fly nor pass from one island to another. The _Casuarius Australis_ was
first indicated by Mr. Wall, the naturalist to Kennedy's expedition, who
shot a specimen in a gully at Cape York, and a notice of it appeared in
1854 in a Sydney paper; but, as the specimen was lost, much doubt existed
as to the species. A bunch of feathers taken from a native hut on the
Upper Burdekin, and sent to Dr. Sclater in 1866, again drew attention
to the probability of a species of Cassowary inhabiting Australia, but
still there was no evidence of the species. In June, 1868, a specimen
reached the Zoological Society of London; and Dr. Sclater states that
although he had not compared it with the Cassowary of Ceram, it seemed
to differ--first, in the form of the crest; secondly, in having thicker
tarsi, and the long straight claw of the inner toe more developed;
thirdly, by the cobalt-blue colour of the naked skin of the neck and
throat. Very recently, however, a young specimen, about two feet long, has
been presented to the National Museum of Melbourne, which establishes the
fact that it is truly distinct as a species from the so-called Indian
Cassowary, and "apparently peculiar to Australia, or at any rate affords
no support to the theory of the former union of Australia with the
northern islands."
[Illustration: THE KIVI-KIVI (_Apteryx Australis_).]
There is fortunately a young specimen of the Ceram Cassowary nearly of
the same size as this young Australian one, and they are both of the same
light, rusty brown colour, the _Casuarius Australis_ being rather redder
on the head and slightly blacker on the back than the _C. galeatus_. In
neither specimen is the helmet developed. On comparing the two specimens,
the tarsi of the Ceram species were found to be rather stronger than those
of the _C. Australis_, and the left inner claw of the Ceram specimen half
an inch shorter than the right one, one side agreeing with the Australian
species. The little feathers on the two caruncles on the throat are
nearly black in _C. Australis_, but much lighter in _C. galeatus_. Two
distinctive characters are, however, shown by these specimens, not noticed
before. The bill of the Australian Cassowary is much more slender than
that of the Ceram bird; both mandibles, taken together vertically, being
one-third deeper in the Indian species than in the Australian one, while
the plumage of the latter is much looser than the former, from having the
lateral barbs much fewer or further apart.
There can now be no doubt of the distinctness of the Queensland species,
although very closely allied to that with which it has been compared, and
also to the Mooruk of New Britain.
According to a correspondent in the _Sydney Herald_, those who obtained
the adult bird state that they saw it running about in companies of seven
or eight, in deep valleys at the foot of high hills. The flesh was eaten
and found to be excellent--a single leg affording more food than several
hungry men could dispose of at a meal. The whole build of this Cassowary
is stronger and heavier than that of the Emu; it makes use of its powerful
legs in the same manner as that bird. It is described as very wary, but
its presence may be at once detected by its utterance of a peculiarly
loud note, which is taken up and echoed along the gullies it principally
frequents.
* * * * *
The KIVIS (_Apteryges_) bear but little resemblance to any of the members
of their order as yet described. They are distinguishable by their compact
body, short thick neck, comparatively short and four-toed foot, the
entire absence of the tail, and the merely rudimentary development of the
wings. Their plumage consists of long, lancet-shaped, flowing, and glossy
feathers, which increase in size from the neck downwards, and have a
somewhat loose web. The bill is very long, covered at the base with a long
cere, and rather depressed, with the tip of the upper mandible overhanging
the lower portion; the small nostrils are situated at the extremity of the
beak. The legs are strong and short; the anterior toes long, powerful, and
armed with formidable claws; the thick, short, hinder toe does not touch
the ground, and is furnished with a still stronger claw resembling the
spur of a Barn-door Cock. The tarsi and feet are covered with scales of
various sizes.
These birds are strictly a New Zealand family. The first Apteryx seen in
England was presented to Dr. Shaw in 1812, and after his death passed into
the possession of the Earl of Derby. No other specimen was seen in Europe
for more than twenty years, and its existence was therefore doubted by
naturalists until 1833, when Mr. Yarrell read a most interesting paper
on the subject before the Zoological Society, and established the family
among accredited species. These strange birds, which at the first glance
somewhat resemble a quadruped in appearance, are, it is said, wholly
nocturnal in their habits, searching for food during the night, and moving
actively, but with a most uncouth gait (see Plate), from place to place.