Journals Of Expeditions Of Discovery Into Central Australia And Overland From Adelaide To King George's Sound In The Years 1840-1: Sent By The Colonists Of South Australia By Eyre, Edward John
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I Have
Only Known This Method Of Taking The Kangaroo Practised In Western
Australia, Between Swan River And King George's Sound,
The emu is taken similarly to the kangaroo.
It is speared in the first,
third, and fourth methods I have described. It is also netted like the
kangaroo, indeed with the same net, only that the places selected for
setting it are near the entrance to creeks, ravines, flats bounded by
steep banks, and any other place where the ground is such as to hold out
the hope, that by driving up the game it may be compelled, by surrounding
scouts, to pass the place where the net is set. When caught the old men
hasten up, and clasping the bird firmly round the neck with their arms,
hold it or throw it on the ground, whilst others come to their assistance
and despatch it. This is, however, a dangerous feat, and I have known a
native severely wounded in attempting it; a kick from an emu would break
a person's leg, though the natives generally keep so close to the bird as
to prevent it from doing them much harm.
The emu is frequently netted by night through a peculiarity in the habits
of the bird, that is well-known to the natives, and which is, that it
generally comes back every night to sleep on one spot for a long time
together. Having ascertained where the sleeping place is, the natives set
the net at some little distance away, and then supplying themselves with
fire-sticks, form a line from each end of the net, diverging in the
distance.
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