OSTRICH 



663 



bird that is to be found in the literature of ornithology.' As are 

 many conspicuous forms, the Ostrich is disappearing before the per- 

 secution of man, and this fact it is which gives the advantage to older 

 tz'avellers, for there are several districts, some of wide extent, known 

 to have been frequented by the Ostrich within the present century, 



Ostrich. 



especially towards the extremities of its African range — as on the 

 borders of Egypt and the Cape Colony — in which it no longer occurs, 

 while in Asia there is evidence, more or less trustworthy, of its 



1 A good summaiy of it is contained in the Ostriches and Ostrich Farming of 

 Messrs. De Mosenthal and Harting, from which the accompanying figure is, with 

 permission, taken. Von Heuglin, in his Ornithologie Nordost-AfriJca s (pp. 925- 

 935), has given more particular details of the Ostrich's distribution in Africa. 



