CASUARIUS UNIAPPENDICULATUS, B

lyth.

One-carunculated Cassowary.

Casuarius, new sp., Blyth, Ibis, 1860, p. 193.
Hist., 3rd ser., vol. vi. p. 145.

ee unappendiculatus, Blyth, Journ. of Asiat. Soc. Beng,, vol. xxix. pp. 112, 113

———~ uniappendiculatus, Benn. Ibis, 1860, p. 403, pl. xlv.—Ibis, 1862, p- 78.—Sclat, Trans. Zool. Soc., vol. iv
p- 359, pl. 74.—Sclat. Proc. of Zool. Soc., 1863, p. 225; 1866, pp. 34, 168. | oe

———— uno-appendiculatus, Blyth, Ibis, 1860, p. 307.—Benn. Ibis, 1860, p. 403.—Blyth, Ann. and Mae. Nat
Hist., 3rd ser., vol. vi. p. 113. : 2 .

———— Kaupi, Rosenb. Journ. fiir Ovrn,,
of Zool. Soc., 1861, p. 438,

—Sclat. in Proc. of Zool. Soc., 1860, p. 210.—Ann. and Mag. Nat.

1861, p. 44, Taf. i. figs. 12, 13; Ibis, 1861, p.312.—G. R. Gray, Proc.

 

On the preceding Plate I have illustrated that remarkable bird, the Mooruk (Casuarius Bennett?) ; on the
present one I give a representation of another no less fine species in its fully adult state, of the same family,
the native country of which is said to be New Guinea and the adjacent islands, particularly that of Salawatty ;
hence, if not a native of Australia, its habitat is almost as near to that country as Ireland is to England.

Like the Casuarius Bennetti and the C. australis, the C. unappendiculatus is a fine addition to the group of
existing Struthiones. When the first living example came under my notice in the Gardens of the Zoological
Society of Amsterdam, I did not rest until I had obtained a drawing of the bird from life, being well aware
it would eventually die, and that, without such a record, the knowledge of the colouring of its soft parts
would in all probability be lost to science. Fortunately Mr. Robert Kretschmar, of Leipzig, offered to make
me such a drawing ; and a copy of it, with but little alteration, is here given. The Casuarius umappendiculatus
appeared to be a bold and spirited bird, and to be taller than any other species of the genus I had seen alive.
Unfortunately it is now dead; but its skin graces, I believe, the fine Museum at Leyden. To these brief
remarks I append all that is known respecting the species.

For our first knowledge of its existence we are indebted to Mr. Blyth, who, in a letter to the Editor of
‘The Ibis’ (1860, p. 193), speaks of a Cassowary living in the aviary of the Babu Rajendra Mullick, with
‘“‘a yellow throat, a single yellow throat-wattle, and a long stripe of naked yellow skin down each side of
the neck.” Soon afterwards Mr. Blyth characterized it, in the ‘Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal,’
and in another letter to the Editor of ‘The Ibis,’ for the same year, p. 307, says, ‘‘ I have described it as
Casuarius uno-appendiculatus—rather a long name, but descriptive of its most strongly marked peculiarity.”

The next notice of it is contained in a communication to ‘The Ibis’ for the same year from my friend
Dr. George Bennett, of Sydney, then residing for a short time in Europe; his reemmalss have reference to a
Amsterdam specimen, which, he says, ‘‘ differs in many characters from 20) of the hitherto known species.
It appears to be about half-grown, and the casque 1s not yet Cee Ulne cheeks are of a bluish green ;
the throat carunculated, and of a bright ochreous colour, terminating in a single wattle ; on each side of the
neck a bare space, also of a bright ochreous colour, with a slight crimson Hoge In general appearance the
bird otherwise resembles the Common Cassowary of about the same age. These characters poems so nearly
Mr. Blyth as living in the menagerie of the Babu Rajendra Mullick, at Calcutta,

with the bird mentioned by Be
On the label is written, ‘Caswarius uni-appen-

as to induce me to regard it as probably of the same species. a Cae ;
i Maria,” from | ‘ca Islands,’ without designating any island in parti-
diculatus, Blyth. Ship ‘‘ Agatha and Maria,” from Molucca Islands,’ witl gnating any |
cular.” -
‘ : ey er * re
In January 1861 the bird was announced, in the ‘ Journal ftir Ornithologie, Pp . a
as a new discovery in the island of Salawatty, and called Casuarius Kaupi. ‘This announcemen
; : : 2 x © > en
following remarks :—* Hitherto there have been only three Cassowaries known—one
. that which occurs in New Guinea

G. von Rosenberg,

of Amboyna,
was accompanied by the Be
from Australia, and a third from New Britain 5 ;
The New-Guinea species, which I have called

escapes from the hunters in the

from Ceram, another
onsidered identical with the Ceram bird. ;
rare, but it is so uncommonly shy that it easily oe
hy it has hitherto escaped the notice of orm ologists. By ¢
at one of my hunters obtained an old male

has usually been ¢
C. Kau, is not very
thick forests; this is, I suppose, the reason w es
le : eS eee I found I had to do with an entirely new
on the west coast of Salawatty; and as soon as It came

a are , Sclater read an
ic the meeting of the Zoological Society of London, on the 27th of ee pe
extract from a ae addressed to him by Dr. Schlegel of Leyden, ane a oe ee oe
recently received seven specimens of a Cassowary, collected by the late trave ; j