OCR Text |
Show 18S9.] HON. W. ROTHSCHILD ON THE CASSOWARIES. 775 4. Casuarius philipi. Habitat uncertain. 5. Casuarius papuanus. Salwatti aud Arfak. (a) „ papuanus edwardsi. Geelvink Bay. 6. Casuariuspicticollis. British N e w Guinea (low country). (a) ,, picticollis hecki. German N e w Guinea. 7. Casuarius lorice. Owen Stanley Range, British N e w Guinea. 8. Casuarius bennetti. New Britain. Besides these, two forms have been distinguished, Casuarius laglaizei and Casuarius tricarunculatus, which are not worthy of distinction; the former is founded on a melanistic specimen of C. uniappendiculatus occipitalis, and the latter on a monstrosity with three wattles of C. casuarius salvadorii. I have been most successful in procuring living specimens of Cassowaries, and during the last 10 months I have had alive 14 out of the 18 forms; and of the drawings exhibited, only two have not been executed from life, namely, Casuarius picticollis, taken from a drawing by Hart made from the bird in the flesh three hours after death, and Casuarius lorice, copied from a sketch by Dr. Loria, from the fresh shot bird, taken on the spot in the Moroka District, S.E. N e w Guinea. It appears, from the only two adult pairs (i. e. males and females) of Cassowaries I have had the good fortune to observe, that in the subspecies of Casuarius casuarius the males have the wattles separated for their entire length, while the females have them joined at the base. I may be allowed to remark that considering the usual manner of securing living Cassowaries (i. e., by shooting the old male and catching his brood of chicks when still in down), the disproportion in the sexes seems to be most astounding: out of 180 Cassowaries which have passed through my hands alive, only 6 were males and 172 were females. The few additional remarks I have to make here are that all Cassowaries are very quarrelsome and savage, and I have only known two tame birds, both Casuarius casuarius violicollis; but by far the most ill-tempered and dangerous birds are the forms of C. papuanus and 0. uniappendiculatus. , That we do not know nearly all the races of Cassowary is amply proved by two young birds, both forms of Casuarius casuarius, now in m y possession, which promise to develop into two very distinct forms; in fact, although young and in brown plumage, I should describe them at once if it were not for the fatal double wattles characteristic of the type of the genus and which therefore denote that the distinctions may be transitory. In the monograph itself I hope to insert everything, anatomically, zoologically, and biologically, known up to the present date. I may mention that the C. casuarius australis now in the Society's Gardens is one of m y original two, purchased in 1890. It is generally believed, and even positively stated in a number of books, that the Australian Cassowary (Casuarius casuarius australis) 50* |