342 BIRDS OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE. 



rather an upright gait ; but when it runs the head is set well 

 back, the neck raised, and the body oscillates from side to 

 side ; but a high rate of speed is nevertheless attained. 



The egg is relatively very large for the size of the bird, 

 for it weighs some 15 or IG ounces, while the bird itself 

 turns tlie scale at about 4 pounds avoirdupois, or about 

 four times the weight only of its egg. 



The bill is long and slightly curved with a small hook at 

 the tip, near to which the small nostrils are also placed, so 

 that in all probability the apteryx is, at least partially, 

 guided to its prey hy the sense of smell. 



It is about 2 feet in lengtli, of a brownish grey colour, 

 as befits a pilgrim of the niglit, on which a robe of gaudier 

 colours would be altogether thrown away, for does not the 

 proverb tell us that by night all cats are gre}' ? 



THE OSTRICHES. 



The well-known rhyme : " If I were a cassowary on the 

 plains of Tirabuctoo, I would eat a missionary, gown, 

 bands, and hymn-book, too," bristles with topographical 

 and ornithological blunders, for the bird in question, the 

 Cassowary, or Pacific Ostiuch, or Mooruk, as it is also 

 called, is not an inhabitant of Africa, but is found in 

 New Guinea, Northern Australia and its dependencies ; 

 and, moreover, there are several varieties, or species, of 

 it, and it is not addicted to the use of animal food, but 

 like the ostrich is graminivorous, or, at least to a certain 

 extent, frugivorous. 



Like the ostrich, the cassowary has wings that cannot be 

 used for flight, but, unlike its relative from the Dark 

 Continent, Nature has not decorated it with a number of 



