450 THE FK4THERED TRIBES. 



and nttendiiig them, so far, bciug vain, wilhout fear, or the least concern of what becomes 

 of them afterwards." 



An ostrich egg is considered as equal in its contents to twenty-four of the domestic 

 hen. "When taken fresh from the nest they arc very palatable, and are wholesome, 

 though somewhat heavy food. The best mode of cooking them is that practised bj' the 

 Hottentots, who place one end of the egg in the hot ashes, and making a small orifice in 

 tlie other, keep stirring the contents with a bit of stick till they arc suiEcientlj' roasted ; 

 and then, with a seasoning of salt and jjcpper, there is a ^ery nice omelette. 



The ostrich of South Africa is a prudent and wary bird, and disijlays but little of the 

 stupidity- charged ui^on it by some naturalists. On the borders of the Cape colony, at 

 least, where it is eagerly pui-sued for the sake of its valuable plumage, the ostrich 

 discovers no want of sagacity in providing for its own safety or the security of its young. 

 It adopts every possible precaution to conceal the place of its nest, and unifoi'udy 

 abandons it, after destroying the eggs, if it perceives that they have been disturbed, or 

 the footsteps of man have been discovered near it. In relieving each other in hatching, 

 the birds are said to be careful not to be seen together at the nest, and are never observed 

 to approach it in a direct line. 



Mr. Lawrence found the oesophagus of an ostrich which he dissected dilated into an 

 immense bag capable of holding several pints of water, and five or six times larger than 

 the gizzard itself, which was placed on the right and anterior part of this dilatation. 

 Tlie glands did not surround the tube, so that, Mr. Lawrence observes, the term " zone " 

 would be here inapplicable. They formed, he tells us, a long narrow band, commencing 

 at the termination of the oesophagus, and running along the front of the bag towards the 

 gizzard. This band measured about twelve inches in length, and not more than three 

 at its greatest breadth. The size of tlie individual glands varied ; they were largest in 

 the middle, and decreased towards either margin of the band 4 some of them equalled a 

 large pea, and their openings w'cre in proportion. They were arranged in close apposi- 

 tion to each other, and the inner surface of the pouch was covered hj a continuation of 

 tlie insensible lining of the gizzai-d, which separated very easily from the surface. The 

 cx'ca in the ostrich are characterised by a remarkable spiral valve, and the villi in its 

 small intestines are rather flat thin lamina3 than villi ; but they arc at the same time 

 long and numerous, presentuig a very elegant structure. The large intestine of the 

 ostrich presents a remarkable deviation from the structure usually seen in birds ; for the 

 surface of that intestine is in them generally uniform on its siu'face, whereas in the 

 ostrich, the largo intestines, which are very long, have numerous transverse folds, like 

 the fulruhc coinuvfiiku of man. 



iSir Evcrard Home thus describes the stomach of the ostrich : — " In the African 

 ostrich the gastric glands arc similar in structure to those of the American, only (he 

 processes belonging to each gland are much more numerous : they arc in general twenty, 

 or thereabouts. Tlie cardiac cavity into which they open is not only very large, but is 

 continued down in the abdomen below the liver to a considerable length, and then is 

 bent np to the right side, and is there connected with a gizzard, the digastric muscle of 

 which is as strong as in grani\orous birds in general. This gizzard is situated so 

 high up as to be nearly on a level with the tennination of the a'soplmgus. Tlio 

 cardiac cavity is everywhere lined willi a thin cuticle, except where the ducts of the 

 gastric glands open. Their orifices occupy an oval space on the left side, extending from 

 the top to the bottom of the cavity, and about four inches broad. The size of tlie gizzard 

 is small when compared to that of the bird. The grinding surfaces do not admit of 

 being separated fo any great distance from one another. On one side there are (wo 

 grooves, and two corresponding ridges <jii (h<' other. IJcyond the cavity of the gizzard is 

 an oval aperture witli six ridges covered with cuticle, wliich oppose the passage of the 



