OCR Text |
Show 1867.] MR. G. KREFFT ON A NEW CASSOWARY. 483 are attached like bells six or eight round fleshy balls of bright blue and scarlet." Mr. Carron, who gave some notes to Wall about this bird, has assured me that this specimen had no red helmet, that its plumage was not brown, but black, and that it was not true that twelve hungry men made a meal of a single leg, and had enough and some to spare. So much, therefore, for this very vague account quoted by Mr. Gould. The Cassowary which I am now about to describe was presented to the Australian Museum by Mr. G. Randall Johnson, who informs me that it was shot by him when on a visit to Messrs. Scott and Co.'s, Herbert Station, in the Gawnie Creek Scrub, near Rockingham Bay. Mr. Johnson has furnished me with a description of the appearance of the fleshy part of the neck in the living bird, and is anxious to see some former statements made by him through Dr. Ferd. Mueller corrected; and as the newspaper account given by Dr. Mueller will probably be quoted by other writers, I call the attention of the Fellows of this Society to the fact that it contains many inaccuracies. When announcing the discovery of a Cassowary, Dr. Mueller suggested that, if new, it should be named in honour of the discoverer ; and acting upon this I beg to propose the name of Casuarius johnsoni for it. General plumage black, the feathers being brown at the base, and black from about the middle to the tip ; head surrounded by a compressed helmet, the height of which is about equal to its base ; skin of neck smooth, without any folds or hair-covered ridges like those shown on the back of the neck of Casuarius galeatus; thin soft hair-like feathers cover the neck ; on each side the lower part of the neck is furnished with a few thick glandular fleshy ridges, which in the living bird are deep blue ; helmet horny colour (dirty light brown in Mr. Johnson's notes) ; irides rich light brown ; the skin from the bill along the top of the head and extending 5 inches down the back of the neck marine blue; below this, still following the back of the neck down to the point at which the feathers become thick, the coloration is of a cinnabar-red ; the underside of the head and throat from the bill downwards ultramarine blue ; glandular portion of neck dark blue. Wattles, two in number, bright red, and 4 inches long. The rudimentary wings are provided on the right side with five long smooth shafts; a sixth, nail-like and not more than ^ inch in length, finishes the series. The left wing has four long and straight shafts and a fifth curved one of about 2 inches in length. Toes moderate, rather blunt, except the inner one, which, springing from a broad base, is scarcely curved, and tapers towards a sharp point. This Cassowary, I am told, confines itself almost entirely to the more open parts of the scrub, and seldom ventures out on the plains. During July, August, and September its food consists chiefly of an egg-shaped blue-skinned berry, the fruit of a large tree; this, together with herbage, probably forms its diet for at least that portion of the year. |