THE OSTRICH. 



OUTH AMERICAN Rhea 

 is the name by which 

 this immense bird is 

 known to science. It is a 

 native of vSouth America, 

 and is especially numerous along the 

 river Plata. Usually seen in pairs, it 

 sometimes associates in flocks of twenty 

 or thirty, and even more have been 

 seen together. Like all the members 

 of the family, it is a swift-footed and 

 wary bird, but possesses so little 

 presence of mind that it becomes 

 confused when threatened with danger, 

 runs aimlessly first in one direction 

 and then in another, thus giving time 

 for the hunter to come up and shoot 

 it, or bring it to the groimd with his 

 bolas — a terrible weapon, consisting of 

 a cord with a heavy ball at each end, 

 which is flung at the bird, and winds 

 around its neck and legs so as to 

 entangle it. 



For our knowledge of the Rhea and 

 its habits, we are chiefly indebted to 

 Mr. Darwin, and we shall use his 

 language in this account of the bird. 

 He says it is found also in Paraguay, 

 but is not common. The birds 

 generally prefer running against the 

 wind, yet, at the instant, they expand 

 their wings and, like a vessel, make 

 all sail. " On one fine hot day I saw 

 several Ostriches enter a bed of tall 

 rocks, where they squatted concealed 

 till nearly approached." 



It is not generally known that 

 Ostriches readily take to the water. 

 Mr. King says that at Patagonia and 

 at Pont Valdez he saw these birds 

 swimming several times from island to 

 island. They ran into the water both 

 when driven down to a point, and like- 

 wise of their own accord, when not 

 frightened. 



Natives readily distinguish, even at a 

 distance, the male bird from the female. 

 The former is larger and darker colored, 

 and has a larger head. It emits a sing- 

 ular deep-toned hissing note. Darwin, 



when he first heard it, thought it was 

 made by some wild beast. It is such a 

 sound that one cannot tell whence it 

 comes, nor from how far distant. 



" When we were at Bahia Blanca, 

 in the months of September and 

 October, the eggs of the Rhea were 

 found in extraordinary numbers all 

 over the country. They either lie 

 scattered singly, in which case they 

 are never hatched, or they are collected 

 together into a hollow excavation 

 which forms the nest. Out of the four 

 nests which I saw, three contained 

 twenty-two eggs each, and the fourth 

 twenty -seven. The Gauchos unanim- 

 ously affirm, and there is no reason to 

 doubt their statement, that the male 

 bird alone hatches the eggs, and that 

 he for some time afterward, accom- 

 panies the young. The cock while in 

 the nest lies very close ; I have myself 

 almost ridden over one. It is asserted 

 that at such times they are occasionally 

 fierce, and even dangerous, and that 

 they have been known to attack a man 

 on horseback, trying to kick and leap 

 on him." 



The skylight in the roof of the 

 apartment in which two Ostriches 

 were kept in the Garden of Plants, 

 Paris, having been broken, the glaziers 

 were sent to repair it, and in the 

 course of their work let fall a piece of 

 glass. Not long after this the female 

 Ostrich was taken ill, and died after 

 an hour or two in great agony. The 

 body was opened, and the throat and 

 stomach were found to have been 

 dreadfully cut by the sharp corners of 

 the glass which she had swallowed. 

 From the moment his companion 

 died the male bird had no rest ; he 

 appeared to be continually searching 

 for something, and daily wasted away. 

 He was removed from the spot, in the 

 hope that he would forget his grief ; he 

 was even allowed more liberty, but in 

 vain, and at length he mourned himself 

 to death. 



167 



