XJIE NA.NDU. 453 



being about a quarter of a mile lioiu the other ; a tine male ostrich (i-hm) being- turned 

 by the headmost riders, tried to escape on one side. The Guachos pursued at a reckless 

 pace, twisting their horses about with the most admirable command, and each man 

 whirling the balls round his head. \i length the foremost threw tliom revolving 

 through the air ; in an instant the ostrich i-olled over, its logs lairly lashed together 

 by the thong." 



" When hunted by the Guachos, to wliuui, fleet and wary as it is, it often falls 

 a prey, the nandu expands its plumed wings, and, as if making sail, scours along, 

 generally running against the wind." To this Mr. Darwin adds the following 

 singular fact, which no one would have surmised, namely, that these birds are capable 

 of swimming. " It is not generally known that ostriches (nandus) readilv take to the 

 water. Mr. King informs me, that at the Bay of San Blast, and at Port Yaldes in 

 Patagonia, he saw these birds swimming several times from island to island ; they ran 

 into the water, both when driven down to a point, and likewise of their own accord 

 when not frightened ; the distance crossed was about two hundred j'ards. When 

 swimming, very little of their bodies appears above water, and their necks are extended 

 a little forward. Their progress is slow. On two occasions, I saw some ostriches 

 swimming across the Santa Cruz river, where it was about four hundred yards wide", and 

 the stream rapid." It may here be added, that the emu of New Holland, though not an 

 aquatic bird, swims well. It has been observed by Captain Sturt crossing the Murrum- 

 bidgee river. Whether the African -ostrich or the cassowary of Java ever enter the 

 water is not known ; with respect to the latter, however, a similar habit is by no means 

 improbable. The male rhea is readily to be distinguished from the females bv his 

 large size and darker colouring. The noise he makes is a deejJ-toned hiss, which, when 

 Mr. Darwin first heard it, he fancied was uttered by some " wild beast ;" " for it is a 

 sound that one cannot tell whence it comes, or how far distant." 



As is the case with the ostrich, several females lay in one nest ; the number of eggs 

 deposited altogether varying from twenty to forty or fifty — Azara says, even seventy or 

 eight}-. Each female lays about seventeen eggs. It is well ascertained, that the male emu 

 alone undertakes the work of incubation. In the instance of the rhea, the same curious 

 fact occurs ; the male assiduouslj' broods over the nest, hatches the eggs, and for some 

 time afterwards accompanies the young. " When we were at Bahia Blanca," says Mr. 

 Darwin, " in the months of September and October, the eggs (of the rhea), in extra- 

 ordinary numbers, were found all over the country. They either lie scattered single, in 

 which case they are never hatched, and are called by the Spaniards huachos, or they are 

 collected together in a shallow excavation, which forms the nest. Out of the four nests 

 which I saw, three contained twent\--two eggs each, and the fourth twenty-seven. In 

 one day's hunting on horseback, sixty-four eggs were found ; forty-four of these were in 

 two nests, and the remaining twenty scattered huachos." The circumstance of the female 

 rhea thus scattering her eggs, instead of depositing them all together, is very remarkable. 

 " It appears odd," Mr. Darwin observes, " that so many should be wasted : does it 

 not arise from the difficulty of several females associating together, and persuadino- 

 an old cock to rmdertake the office of incubatioi>? It is e\'ident that there must 

 be, at first, some degree of association between at least two females ; otherwise 

 the eggs would remain scattered over the wide plains, at distances far too great 

 to allow of the males collecting them into one nest Some have believed that the 

 scattered eggs were deposited for the young birds to feed on. This can hardly be 

 the case in America, because the huachos, though often found addled and putrid, 

 are generally whole." Maj" it not be probable, we would ask, that to a similar 

 practice, that is, of scattering her eggs, in the case of the African ostrich, the often- 

 quoted passage in the book of Job may refer, and which appears to be contradictory 



