All The Feathers Are Extremely Coarse, But The Construction
Of Them Deserves Notice - They Grow In Pairs From A Single Shaft, A Singularity
Which The Author I Have Quoted Has Omitted To Remark.
It may be presumed,
that these birds are not very scarce, as several have been seen, some of them
immensely large, but they are so wild, as to make shooting them a matter
of great difficulty.
Though incapable of flying, they run with such swiftness,
that our fleetest greyhounds are left far behind in every attempt
to catch them. The flesh was eaten, and tasted like beef.
Besides the emu, many birds of prodigious size have been seen, which promise
to increase the number of those described by naturalists, whenever we shall
be fortunate enough to obtain them; but among these the bat of the
Endeavour River is not to be found. In the woods are various little songsters,
whose notes are equally sweet and plaintive.
Of quadrupeds, except the kangaroo, I have little to say. The few met with
are almost invariably of the opossum tribe, but even these do not abound.
To beasts of prey we are utter strangers, nor have we yet any cause to believe
that they exist in the country. And happy it is for us that they do not,
as their presence would deprive us of the only fresh meals the settlement
affords, the flesh of the kangaroo. This singular animal is already known
in Europe by the drawing and description of Mr. Cook.
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