Reptiles and birds. A popular account of the various orders; with a description of the habits and economy of the most interesting.

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Identifier: reptilesbirdspo00figu (find matches)
Title: Reptiles and birds. A popular account of the various orders; with a description of the habits and economy of the most interesting.
Year: 1873 (1870s)
Authors: Figuier, Louis, 1819-1894 Gillmore, Parker
Subjects: Birds Reptiles
Publisher: New York : D. Appleton and Co.
Contributing Library: Smithsonian Libraries
Digitizing Sponsor: Biodiversity Heritage Library

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nd incubates them in the samiC manneras the Ostrich. They are birds of a gentle nature, and are tamedwith the greatest ease, becoming very familiar in the house, visitingthe various apartments, wandering about the streets, and even intothe country; but they always return to their homes before sunset. The flesh of the adult is by no means agreeable ; that of theyoung, on the contrary, is tender and sweet. Its skin, when properlydressed, is used for bags, purses, &c., and their feathers serve forplumes and light dusting-brooms. We owe a knowledge of a secondspecies of Rhea to Mr. Darwin, who has given a figure and ampledescriptions of the bird and its habits in The Voyage of theBeagle/ it has been named in consequence Rhea Darwinii. There 362 REPTILES AND BIRDS. is every reason for thinking that these Birds might be successfullyacclimated in Europe. The Cassowarys (Casuariiis einu, Fig. 145) form a genus of birdsallied to the ostrich, although they differ from it in some particulars
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Fig. 144.—The Rhea, —their shape is not so elegant, and their wings are even less adaptedfor flight; for so short are they, that they are pefectly useless, even toassist in running. Their long blackish feathers are almost devoid ofside fringes, which gives their plumage a resemblance to coarse hair;their feet are provided with three toes. This Bird was called the THE CASSOWARY. 363 Emu by early Portuguese navigators. It is the Struthio casiiarius ofLinnaeus, and the Casuarius galeatus of Vieillot. The Cassowary has a kind of hehnet on its head, produced by anenlargement of the bone of the skull, and covered with a horny sub-stance. It is a massively-made bird, in size between the Ostrich andthe Rhea, and is a native of the Malaccas. It is a stupid, quarrel-

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