Reptiles and birds : a popular account of their various orders, with a description of the habits and economy of the most interesting

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Identifier: reptilesbirds00figu (find matches)
Title: Reptiles and birds : a popular account of their various orders, with a description of the habits and economy of the most interesting
Year: 1883 (1880s)
Authors: Figuier, Louis, 1819-1894 Gillmore, Parker
Subjects: Reptiles Birds
Publisher: London : Cassell & Co.
Contributing Library: American Museum of Natural History Library
Digitizing Sponsor: Biodiversity Heritage Library

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incubates them in the same 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 tlieir 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 Pdiea 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 Dafwinii. There N * 362 REPTILES AND BIRDS. is every reason for thinking that these Birds might be successfullyacclimated in Europe. The Cassowarys (Casuarms emu, Fig. 145) ^^rm 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 liight; 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 tlieir plumage a resemblance to coarse hair;tb^ir feet are provided with three toes, Thi$ 3ird was called the THE CASSOWARY. 36: Emu by early Portuguese navigators. It is the Struthio casuarius ofLinnaeus, and the Casuarius galcafus 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 Mnla^cas. It is a stupid, quarrel-

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