STRUTHIOUS BIRDS: 



OSTRICHES, RHEAS, EMUS, AND 



CASSOWARIES 



TT is sad to know that these giant birds, archaic 

 -*- forms with few surviving near relations, and 

 the last remnants of an ancient avifauna, once 

 widely dispersed, are almost certainly doomed to 

 more or less early extinction in a wild state. These 

 great birds, together with the still surviving Kiwis 

 (conf. p. 266) and the long extinct ^pyornithes, of 

 which the fabled " Roc " (of Arabian Nights fame) 

 is presumed to be one, form the group of keel-less 

 Aves which are associated under the sub-class 

 Ratitse. All are flightless, if swift of foot, yet 

 certainly able to hold their own until man's per- 

 secution drives them rapidly onwards to complete 

 extirpation. Some of these big birds are con- 

 tinental, and have managed to survive, notwith- 

 standing their flightless state, in areas abounding 

 in carnivorous animals, whilst others under 



