A Third Specimen of the Extinct “Dromaius ater,” Vieillot; found in the R. Zoological Museum, Florence

Abstract

IN January 1803, a French scientific expedition, under Baudin, visited the coast of South Australia and explored Kangaroo Island, called by them “Isle Decres.” One of the naturalists attached to the expedition was the well-known F. Peron, who wrote an interesting narrative thereof. He noticed that Decres Island was uninhabited by man, but, although poor in water, was rich in kangaroos and emus (Casoars he calls the latter), which in troops came down to the shore at sunset to drink sea-water. Three of these emus were caught alive, and safely reached Paris; we learn from the “Archives du Museum” that one was placed in the Jardin des Plantes, and two were sent to “La Malmaison,” then the residence of the Empress Josephine. We learn later that two of these birds lived to 1822, when one was mounted entire and placed in the ornithological galleries of the “Museum,” the other was prepared as a skeleton and placed in the comparative anatomy collections. No mention is made of the ultimate fate of the third specimen.