Linda Jean Warden, age 10, of South Portland, Maine, for her question:

Where do emus live?

The emu stands five feet tall and you might mistake him for his eousin, the ostrich,, who happens to be the biggest bird in the world. The emu rates second in size in the bird world. He is a native of Australia., where he and his family often are unpopular with the farmers and gardeners. The big bird is a vegetarian and a couple of parents with their growing family of six or seven need a huge supply of roots and fruit, herbs and assorted greenery. Sometimes they help themselves to cultivated crops. Scarecrows do not scare them and if someone tries to shoo them away, the big fellows pay no attention.

The emu is much too big and heavy to lift himself off the ground and take to the air.

He Is a flightless bird, though he does have a pair of small wings. They are hidden under the soft plumage that covers his body like long strands of silken hair. The adult bird is a brunette. The sassy emu chicks are striped from head to tail in brown and yellow.