CASUARIUS. ®ICAKOTCmAfITS#Siia&r
CASUARIUS BICARUNCULATU S, Sclater.
Two-wattled Cassowary,
Casuarius bicarunculatus, Sclater, Proc. Zool. S e e . 1860, pp. 211,248. Id. Trans. Zool. Soc. iv. p. 359, pi. lxxiii.
(1860).—Schlegel, Nederl. Tijdschr. Dierk. 8vo, iii. p. 347 (1866).—Gray, Hand-1. B. iii. p. 2, no. 9849
(1871).—Sclater, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1872, p. 495, pi. xxvi. ; . 1875, p. 8 7—Harting, in Mosenthal &
Harting, Ostriches & Ostrich-farming, p. I l l (1877).
------------ aruensis, Schlegel, Nederl. Tijdschr. Dierk. 8vo, iii. p. 347 (1866).
In the year 1860 the Zoological Society o f London obtained from the sister Society in Rotterdam a young
Cassowary, which, although in immature plumage and with the casque only slightly developed, was
recognized by D r. Sclater as a new species on account o f the position o f the neck wattles far apart, which
rendered the bird, even in its young stage, easily recognizable from the common Cassowary (C. galeatus).
Before this specimen became fully adult it unfortunately died, but not before an excellent coloured picture
had been made from the living bird, and had been published by D r. Sclater in the ‘ Transactions o f the
Zoological Society. A second example was received in 1869, but also died before reaching maturity. In the
‘ Proceedings’ for 1872, however, a lully adult bird was figured by Dr. Sclater from a specimen purchased
by the Society from Mr. Jamrach, who obtained it in Calcutta, and the distinctness o f the species was
placed beyond all question. Besides the different arrangement o f the neck-wattles, it differs from C. galeatus,
to which the form o f the casque somewhat allies it, in having the latter very much smaller and rising from
a much smaller base on the v e rte x ; the colouring o f the head and neck is also different.
T h e habitat of this species is now known to be the Aru Islands, where specimens have been procured for
the Leyden Museum by Baron von Rosenberg ; and o f these a description was given in 1866 by Professor
Schlegel, who states th at in a young specimen there was found no trace of any caruncles at all.
T h e figures in the Plate have been drawn by me from the living specimen in the Zoological Gardens. It
is not necessary to do more than to show the head and neck in these Cassowaries, as the bodies in all the
species a re always black. I have therefore delineated the head and neck o f the bird, in such a way as to
show the distinctive casque and the bright colouring which adorns the neck in the present species.