to the above communication, remarked that the bird described by Dr. Mueller was no doubt the Casuarius

australis of Gould; and with reference to the specimen in the Sydney Museum, Mr. W. Carron addressed a

i letter to the Editor of the ‘ Sydney Herald’ on the 8th of February, 1867, in which he says :—* I have
just seen the bird sent to the Museum by Mr. Johnson, and think it identical with that shot by Mr. Wall
in the vicinity of Weymouth Bay in November 1848. [I am aware that in the few remarks on Mr. Wall’s
bird, which appear in my narrative of Kennedy’s expedition, there is an error as to the colour of the helmet
or comb, which was black, not red. . . . As I was present when Wall’s bird was shot, and helped to eat
it, I had a good opportunity of knowing something respecting it. Instead of going in flocks of five or
six together, it is certainly a solitary bird, and would appear to be very scarce, as only two others were seen
by our party during the whole journey from Rockingham Bay to my furthest camp at Weymouth Bay, in
latitude 12° 25'S. This bird had shorter but larger legs, a heavier body, and shorter neck than the Emu.
It appears to confine itself to the gullies in the thick jungles with the Brash-Turkeys and Jungle-fowl,
feeding on the various fruits found there, even swallowing the large seeds of Castanospermum and Pandanus.
Mr. Wall took every care of the skin he was able to do; but it was completely destroyed before he died,
together with my own specimens at Weymouth Bay. This bird was certainly very large, and furnished our
whole party with a better supper and breakfast than we had enjoyed for some months, or than poor Wall
was destined to enjoy again (as he and all his companions, with the exception of myself and one other, had
died in six weeks after from want of food); but there was not one in the party who would not have eaten
more if he could have got it, every meal having been divided with the greatest nicety for a long time.”

On the 11th of June, 1868, Mr. Sclater exhibited to the Zoological Society a very fine and perfect skin
of the Casuwarius australis, which had been transmitted to him by Mr. Charles J. Scott, of Queensland, and
was believed to be the first example that had reached Europe. Along with the specimen Mr. Scott for-
warded a careful description and sketch of the head and naked parts of the neck, which Mr. Sclater very
kindly placed in my hands, and thus enabled me to give the annexed correct illustration, of the size of life.
Mr. Sclater remarked that some naturalists had been inclined to doubt whether the Casuarius australis would
prove to be really distinct from the well-known Casuartus galeatus of Ceram, but he believed that no one who
examined the present specimen could any longer doubt upon the matter. The following appeared to him to
be noticeable points of distinction between the two species :—

The crest of the Australian bird is of a different shape from that of C. galeatus, rising much more erect
from the head, and attaining a much greater development than in even the largest examples of the latter
species. In C. australis also the crest is extremely compressed towards the edges, terminating in two thin

| laminee of horn united in a medial line. The tarsi are thicker and stouter, and the elongated claw on the
inner toe of C. australis is straighter and much more developed. The following stated dimensions of the
present specimen appear to indicate that the species attains a much greater size than C. galeatus:—
Total length, from the summit of the helmet to the end of the caudal feathers, about 72 inches ; total
height of the crest, from its base to the summit, 5°8; distance from the gape to the end of the bill,
mn a straight line, 6:1; length of tarsus 13°3; length of the inner toe with the nail 6°3, nail of ditto
3°53 length of the middle toe with the nail 7-0, outer ditto with the nail 4°5. The wing in C. australis
is composed of four or five strong barbless quills, and terminated, as in other species of the genus, by a well-
developed claw. The gular caruncle appears rather to resemble that of C. galeatus, being divided nearly
down to its base, and terminating in two flaps.

It may, perhaps, be thought that my representation of the head and neck is too highly coloured ; but I
must remind my readers that, as is the case with the salacious Turkey and the equally hot Zalegadla, those parts
of the Cassowary are very different in appearance at opposite seasons ; and thus the bare skin of the neck may
be smooth at one period and corrugated at another. I have had abundant evidence that such is the case
with the examples of Casuarius galeatus which have lived and bred in the Gardens of the Zoological
Society for many years past, and I feel assured that what takes place in one species also occurs in the other.

I have so many gentlemen to thank for the assistance they have rendered me respecting this important
bird, that I am fearful lest I may omit to name some one or more of them ; if this should be the case, I
hope the seeming negligence may be regarded as mere inadvertence. To Mr. Arthur J. Scott and his brothers
I am especially indebted, and not less so to Dr. Bennett of Sydney (who sent me a photograph of the spe-
cimen in the Sydney Museum), to Professor M‘Coy and Dr. Mueller of Melbourne, Victoria, C. Coxen, Esq.,
of Brisbane, and Mr. Sclater.

I do not append a description of the bird, because my plates will convey far more readily its appearance
and colouring than any words, however characteristic and expressive.

One of the annexed illustrations represents the head and legs, of the size of life; the other an entire
figure of the bird, necessarily much reduced.