Tower Menagerie — Section 25

_DROMICEIUS NOVÆ HOLLANDIÆ.

_ VIEILL.

The New Holland Emeu, as well as the Ostrich and the Cassowary, to both of which it is nearly related, is now generally regarded as belonging to the Rasorial Order, the Gallinaæ of Linnæus, the feet of which are formed for running and for scratching up the earth in search of the seeds which constitute their usual subsistence.

Some of the birds, however, which are referred to it, and particularly those now under consideration, feed upon fruits and roots.

The whole of the Order are distinguished by a certain degree of convexity on the upper surface of the bill, the base of which is enveloped by a membrane, in which are situated the nostrils covered by a cartilaginous scale; by the muscular plumpness of their bodies, and especially of their legs; by the shortness of their wings, and the diminution of strength in their pectoral muscles; and by the thickness and strength of their anterior toes, generally three in number, united at the base alone by a connecting membrane, and roughened beneath.

These characters conjoined sufficiently indicate that their proper place of abode is the surface of the earth, on which they are enabled to run with a greater or less degree of speed; and that the air, in which they are incapable of elevating themselves to any considerable height, or of propelling their flight with more than moderate swiftness, and into which some of them cannot even raise themselves at all, is an uncongenial element to which they can seldom resort.

They furnish the principal and most useful breeds of our domestic poultry, and stock our farm-yards with their most valuable inhabitants.

The distinctive generic characters of the New Holland Emeu, which forms part of the Ostrich family, and is, with the sole exception of the Ostrich, the largest bird known to exist, consist in the flattening of its bill from above downwards, instead of from side to side; in the absence of the bony process which crests the head of the Cassowary, of the wattles which depend from his neck, and of the long spurlike shafts which arm his wings; and in the equal, or nearly equal, length of all his claws.

The Emeus, however, agree with the Cassowaries in the number of their toes, three on each foot, all of them directed forwards and extremely thick and short, the posterior toe, which is common to most of the Order, being in them entirely wanting; in the excessive shortness of their wings, which do not even, as is the case with the Ostriches, assist them in running, much less in flight, of which, in common with the latter, they are absolutely incapable; and in the structure of their feathers, which are for the most part double, each tube being divided near its origin into two shafts, the barbs of which are soft, downy, and distinct from each other, and assume at a distance rather the appearance of a silky covering of hair than that of the common plumage of birds.

The New Holland bird has the head and upper part of the neck thinly covered with slender black feathers; the space around the ears alone being left bare, and exhibiting, as well as the neck and throat, which are but partially concealed by the scattered plumage with which they are provided, the blue tinge of the skin.

The general colour of the plumage is grayish brown above, with a more plentiful intermixture of the gray and a consequent lighter tinge beneath.

The young are striped longitudinally with brown and gray.

Their bill is black, and their legs are remarkably thick and of a dull brown.

The great length of the latter and of the neck, and the erect attitude and quiet demeanour of these birds, which sometimes attain as much as seven feet in height, give them altogether a noble and imposing appearance.

They were formerly common in the neighbourhood of Botany Bay, subsisting, like the rest of their tribe, upon vegetable substances, chiefly fruits.

They are extremely wild, and run with great swiftness when pursued, outstripping it is said the fleetness of the greyhound.

Like the Kanguroos, they are sometimes hunted by the colonists as articles of food; and their flesh is stated to have much of the flavour of beef.

The quantity of provision supplied by one of these birds is by no means inconsiderable.

The animals of the part of New Holland from which these birds are derived appear in general to suffer little from their transportation to the climate of England.

The Emeus, like the Kanguroos, have become to a certain extent naturalized in the Royal Park at Windsor, where they breed without difficulty and with no extraordinary precautions.

Here they have assigned to them a sufficient space of ground to take ample exercise;

and this circumstance contributes not a little to the thriving condition in which they are met with.

They are perfectly harmless unless when irritated or pursued, in which case they sometimes strike very severe blows with their beaks, which are extremely hard.

The pair in the Tower were obtained from this establishment, where they were bred.

[Illustration] [Illustration] THE CROWNED CRANE.

_ANTHROPOIDES PAVONINUS.

_ VIEILL.

The fourth Order of Birds, the Waders, are strikingly characterized by the great length of their legs, the lower part of which is entirely bare of feathers; a peculiarity which is of essential service by enabling them to stand for a long time in the water without injury to their plumage, watching for the fish and reptiles, of which the larger species, and the worms and insects, of which the smaller among them, make their usual prey.

The beautiful birds represented above, which formed part of the Linnean genus Ardea, since subdivided into numerous distinct groups, offer the following generic characters.

Their bill is conical, pointed, scarcely longer than the head, and grooved along its upper surface; their head is ornamented with a crest of long and slender filamentous feathers, capable of being raised and depressed at pleasure; their wings are large and powerful; their legs are covered with large scales; the outer and middle toes are united at the base; and their claws are short and without denticulations.

The Crowned Crane is remarkable for its light and elegant proportions, and for its graceful and varied attitudes.

Its forehead is covered by a thick tuft of short velvety feathers of a soft and brilliant black; its naked cheeks and temples are of a delicate rose colour; and the yellow filaments of its crest terminate in blackish pencils.

The long and slender feathers which descend upon its neck, and the broader ones which clothe the upper and under surface of its body are black with a slight tinge of lead-colour; the primary wing-feathers are also black, the secondary reddish-brown, and the wing-coverts white.

The bill and legs are black.

It is a native of Western Africa; is extremely tame, and may be readily domesticated.

It frequently attains the height of four feet.

[Illustration] [Illustration] THE PELICAN.

_PELECANUS ONOCROTALUS.

_ LINN.

The Pelican affords an excellent illustration of the fifth and last Order of Birds, the Swimmers; the essential character of which consists in the membranous union of the toes, which renders them what is usually termed web-footed, and enables them to propel themselves upon the surface of the water with greater or less rapidity in proportion to the greater or less comparative extent of the membrane in which their toes are enveloped.

They are all consequently inhabitants of marshy situations, of the banks of rivers and lakes, or of the seacoast; and most of them seek their subsistence in their most congenial element, the water, notwithstanding that by far the greater number of them are also endowed with very considerable powers of flight.

Linnæus united under the common title of Pelicans, the Cormorants, the Boobies, and several other birds, which differ from the typical species of the genus by many important characters, the chief point of agreement between them consisting in the form and extent of the membrane which unites the toes.

The Linnean group has subsequently been raised to the rank of a family, and its component parts form several distinct genera, that which comprehends the true Pelicans, the genus Onocrotalus of Brisson, being characterized as follows.

Their bill is of very great length, straight, broad, flattened above, and terminated by a slight hook; the lower mandible consists of two lateral branches, united at the point, and having interposed between them a membranous pouch capable of very great dilatation; their four toes are all enveloped to the very apex in the common membrane; their legs are short, strong, and maintain the body in a state of equilibrium, their lower part being entirely destitute of feathers.

With the exception of the quill-feathers of the wings, which are black, the plumage of the Pelican in the Tower is throughout of an extremely light and delicate flesh-colour, varied only by occasional darker tinges.

The head and upper part of the neck are clothed with a short down, except on the temples, which are naked and flesh-coloured; the upper mandible is of a dull yellow in the middle, with a reddish tinge towards the edges, and a blood-red spot on its curved extremity; and the pouch is of a bright straw-colour.

The Pelican is one of the largest water-birds, considerably exceeding the size of the swan, and frequently measuring from five to six feet between the extremity of the bill and that of the tail, and from ten to twelve between the tips of the expanded wings.

Its bill is nearly a foot and a half in length, and from an inch and a half to two inches broad;

and its pouch is capable of containing, when stretched to its utmost extent, two or three gallons of water.

The quantity of fish which it sometimes accumulates in the same serviceable repository is spoken of as enormous.

Notwithstanding their great bulk and apparent clumsiness, the large extent of their wings, and the extreme lightness of their bones, which are so thin as to be almost transparent, enable these birds to rise to a lofty pitch in the air, to hover at a moderate elevation, or to skim rapidly along the surface of the water with as much facility as they dive into its depths in pursuit of their prey.

They sometimes assemble in large numbers, and in this case are said by Buffon to act in concert, and to show no little skill in manœuvring with the view of securing a plentiful quarry, forming themselves into a circular line, and gradually narrowing the extent of the space enclosed, until they have driven the fishes into so small a compass as to render them a certain prey; when at a given signal they all at once plunge into the water and seize upon their terrified victims, filling their pouches with the spoil, and flying to the land, there to devour it at their leisure.

This fishery is carried on both at sea and in fresh water.

They are found in nearly every part of the globe, but are of rare occurrence in the north of Europe.

The beautiful pair figured at the head of this article are said to be from Hungary.

The female is now sitting upon three eggs, and has built herself a very perfect nest for the purpose.

Should these be brought to maturity, as there is every reason to expect, they will probably be the first that were ever hatched in England.

She never quits her charge; but is fed by the male, who crams his pouch with double his usual allowance, and then proceeds to shovel her fair share into his partner’s throat.

It is in this manner also that the young are fed, the old bird pressing his full pouch against his chest, and contriving thus to disgorge a portion of its contents;

an action which has no doubt given rise to the fabulous notion of the Pelican’s feeding its young with its own blood.

In fact, the appearance of the bird when in this attitude, with the bloody spot on the end of its bill closely pressed against the delicate plumage of its breast, may readily account for the prevalence of such an idea in the minds of superficial observers.

The first traces of this fable are to be found in the writings of some of the early fathers of the church, and it was eagerly adopted by the heralds of later days, whose unbounded credulity was ever on the watch for the marvellous, in natural history more especially.

Our birds are commonly allowed three dozen of small live plaice each per day.

[Illustration] [Illustration] THE ALLIGATOR.