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EMEU

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Originally appearing in Volume V09, Page 337 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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EMEU , evidently from the See also:

Port. Erna,' a name which has in turn been applied to each of the earlier-known forms of Ratite birds, but has finally settled upon that which inhabits See also:Australia, though, up to the See also:close of the 18th See also:century, it was given by most authors to the See also:bird now commonly called cassowary—this last word being a corrupted See also:form of the Malayan Suwari (see See also:Crawfurd, Gramm. and See also:Diet. See also:Malay See also:Language, ii. pp. 178 and 25), apparently first printed as Casoaris by Bontius in 1658 (Hist. not. et med. Ind. Orient. p. 71). The cassowaries (Casuariidae) and emeus (Dromaeidae)—as the latter name is now used—have much structural resemblance, and form the See also:order Megistanes,3 which is See also:peculiar to the Australian Region. See also:Huxley showed (Prot. Zool. See also:Soc., 1867, pp. 422, 423, that they agree in differing from the other See also:Ratitae in many important characters; one of the most obvious of them is that 1 By See also:Moraes (1i96) and See also:Sousa (1830) the word is said to be from the Arabic Na'ama or Na'ema, an See also:ostrich (Struthio camelus) ; but no additional See also:evidence in support of the assertion is given by See also:Dozy in 1869 (Glossaire See also:des mots espagnols et portugais derives de l'arabe, 2nd ed., p.

26o). According to See also:

Gesner in 1555 (See also:lib. iii. p. 709), it was the Portuguese name of the See also:crane (Grus communis), and had been transferred with the qualifying addition of " di Gei ' (i.e. ground-crane) to the ostrich. This statement is confirmed by Aldrovandus (lib. ix. cap. 2). Subsequently, but in what order can scarcely now be deter-See also:mined, the name was naturally enough used for the ostrich-like birds inhabiting the lands discovered by the Portuguese, both in the Old and in the New See also:World. The last of these are now known as rheas, and the preceding as cassowaries. 2 The figures are taken, by permission, from Messrs Mosenthai and Harting's Ostriches and Ostrich Farming (Triibner & Co.,1877). 3 See also:Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist. See also:ser. 4, xx. p.

500. each See also:

contour-See also:feather appears to be See also:double, its hyporachis, or aftershaft, being as See also:long as the See also:main shaft—a feature noticed in the See also:case of either form so soon as examples were brought to See also:Europe. The See also:external distinctions of the two families are, however, equally See also:plain. The cassowaries, when adult, See also:bear a horny See also:helmet on their See also:head; they have some See also:part of the See also:neck See also:bare, generally more or less ornamented with caruncles, and the claw of the inner toe is remarkably elongated. The emeus have no helmet, their head is feathered, their neck has no caruncles, and their inner toes bear a claw of no singular See also:character. The type of the Casuariidae is the See also:species named by See also:Linnaeus Struthio casuarius and by See also:John Latham Casuarius emeu. Vieillot subsequently called it C. galeatus, and his epithet has been very commonly adopted by writers, to the exclusion of the older specific appellation. It seems to be peculiar to the See also:island of See also:Ceram, and was made known to naturalists, as we learn from Clusius, in 1597, by the first Dutch expedition to the See also:East —"-7e:-'T.:,, Indies, when an example was brought from See also:Banda, whither it had doubtless been conveyed from its native island. It was said to have been called by the inhabitants " Emeu," or " Ema, but this name they must have had from the earlier Portuguese navigators). Since that See also:time examples have been continually imported into Europe, so that it has become one of the best-known members of the subclass Ratitae. For a long time its glossy, but coarse and See also:hair-like, See also:black plumage, its lofty helmet, the gaudily-coloured caruncles of its neck, and the four or five barbless quills which represent its wing-feathers, made it appear unique among birds. But in 18J7 Dr See also:George See also:Bennett certified the existence of a second and perfectly distinct species of See also:cassowary, an inhabitant of New See also:Britain, where it was known to the natives as the Mooruk, and in his See also:honour it was named by John See also:Gould C. bennetti.

Several examples were soon after received in See also:

England, and these confirmed the view of it already taken. A considerable number of other species of the genus have since been described from various localities in the same subregion. 1 It is known that the Portuguese preceded the Dutch in their voyages to the East, and it is almost certain that the latter were assisted by pilots of the former nation, whose names for places and various natural See also:objects would be imparted to their employers (see See also:DoDO).. Conspicuous among them from its large See also:size and lofty helmet is the C. australis, from the See also:northern parts of Australia. Its existence indeed had been ascertained, by T. S. See also:Wall, in 1854, but the specimen obtained by that unfortunate explorer was lost, and it was not until 1867 that an example was submitted to competent naturalists. Not much seems to be known of the habits of any of the cassowaries in a See also:state of nature. Though the old species occurs rather plentifully over the whole of the interior of Ceram, A. R. See also:Wallace was unable to obtain or even to see an example. They all appear to bear captivity well, and the hens in confinement frequently See also:lay their dark-See also:green and rough-shelled eggs, which, according to the See also:custom of the Ratitae, are incubated by the cocks.

The nestling plumage is mottled (Proc. Zool. Soc., 1863, pl. xlii.), and when about See also:

half-grown they are clothed in dishevelled feathers of a deep tawny See also:colour. Of the emeus (as the word is now restricted) the best known is the Casuarius novae-hollandiae of John Latham, made by Vieillot the type of his genus Dromaeus,2 whence the name of the See also:family (Dromaeidae) is taken. This bird immediately after the colonization of New See also:South See also:Wales (in 1788) was found to inhabit the south-eastern portion of Australia, where, according to John See also:Hunter (Hist. Journ., &c., pp. 409,'413), the natives See also:call it Maracry, Marryang or Maroang; but it has now been so hunted down that not an example remains at large in the districts that have been fully settled. It is said to have existed also on the islands of See also:Bass Straits and in See also:Tasmania, but it has been exterminated in both, without, so far as is known, any ornithologist having had the opportunity of determining whether the See also:race inhabiting those localities was specifically identical with that of the mainland or distinct. Next to the ostrich the largest of existing birds, the See also:common emeu is an inhabitant of the more open See also:country, feeding on fruits, roots and herbage, and generally keeping in small companies. The See also:nest is a shallow See also:pit scraped in the ground, and from nine to thirteen eggs, in colour varying from a bluish-green to a dark See also:bottle-green, are laid therein. These are hatched by the See also:cock-bird, the See also:period of See also:incubation lasting from 70 to 8o days. The See also:young at See also:birth are striped longitudinally with dark markings on a See also:light ground.

A remark-able structure in Dromaeus is a singular opening in the front of the See also:

windpipe, communicating with a tracheal pouch. This has attracted the See also:attention of several anatomists, and has been well described by Dr Murie (Proc. Zool. Soc., 1867, pp. 405-415). Various conjectures have been made as to its See also:function, the most probable of which seems to be that it is an See also:organ of See also:sound in the breeding-See also:season, at which time the See also:hen-bird has long been known to utter a remarkably loud booming See also:note. Due convenience being afforded to it, the emeu thrives well, and readily propagates its See also:kind in Europe. Like other Ratite birds it will take to the See also:water, and examples have been seen voluntarily See also:swimming a wide See also:river. (A.

End of Article: EMEU

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