Birds Feet and Legs Strongev in Evidence 



133 



Everybody must at some time or other have seen a par- 

 tridge run, and consequently must know that no man is 

 able to keep up with it, and it is easy to imagine that if 

 this bird had a longer step its speed would be considerably 

 augmented. The ostrich moves like the partridge, with 

 both these advantages, and there are instances of these 

 birds having put on such a speed as to distance the fleetest 

 racehorse ever bred in England. It is true they would not 

 hold out as long as a horse, but without doubt they would 

 be able to perform the race in less time. Had we but the 

 knowledge and method of breaking it and managing this 

 bird as we do the horse, there is no knowing what speed 

 might be attained by a bird with such prodigious 

 strength. 



A British bird, the Bustard (Otis tarda), now rarely 

 seen, if not quite extinct, is very similar to the ostrich in 

 its faculty of running, and said to be hunted with grey- 

 hounds, a sport followed even by the ancient Greeks, 

 as we learn from Xenophon and ySHan. The male of 

 this species is furnished with a singular bag or pouch, 

 opening under the tongue, and hanging down on the fore- 

 part of the gullet, as low as the middle of the neck. This 

 seems to have been observed by Aristotle, but was par- 

 ticularly described by Dr. Douglas, who advanced the 

 idea it was intended as a reservoir for water, indispen- 

 sable in the extensive arid plains which it inhabits. 

 He found it capacious enough to hold several quarts of 

 water. 



Another writer of that period, Colonel Montagu, how- 

 ever, appears to be somewhat sceptical upon this point. 

 " We think it impossible," he says, " that the bird could 

 fly with such an addition of weight before its wings, which 

 would throw it out of the centre of gravity. We see the 

 heron and many other birds obliged to extend their legs 

 behind and contract their necks when flying, in order to 

 balance themselves on the wing. Seven quarts of water 

 (the quantity mentioned by Dr. Douglas) are nearly equal 

 to fourteen pounds weight, and certainly more than the 

 bird could carry in that situation." 



It would appear, indeed, from the observations of Sir 



