The southern hemisphere view of the Milk Way. Many aboriginal people in Australia believed that the dark patches in the Milky Way represents a giant Emu in the Sky. Emu is the largest native bird in Australia and the second-largest living bird by height, after its close relative the ostrich. The dark nebula (known as Coalsack) just under the Southern Cross is the Emu's head (upper right). The neck goes through Alpha and Beta Centauri (bright stars on the right) and the wider part of the Milky Way, the galactic bulge in Scorpius and Sagittarius, becomes the Emu's body.