THE SOUTH AMERICAN RHEA. 



I need'nt tell you I'm an 

 Ostrich, for my picture speaks 

 for itself. I'm a native of South 

 America, but members of my 

 family have been caught and 

 taken to the United States, so 

 you have seen some of them, 

 probably, in a '^Zoo." 



We are swift-footed and 

 wary birds, but unfortunately 

 have no presence of mind, so 

 that when danger threatens us 

 we become confused, run this 

 way and that way, till the hunter 

 comes up and with gun or 

 "bolas" brings us to the ground. 



If your legs and neck were as 

 long as mine, and an Indian 

 should fling around you a cord 

 with a ball at each end and 

 get your legs all tangled up, 

 wouldn't you tumble to the 

 ground, too ? Of course you 

 would. That is the way they 

 catch us with a ^'bolas." 



I think we ought to be called 

 "ship of the desert" as well as 

 the camel, for when the wind 

 blows, we expand our great 

 wings, and running against it, 

 like a vessel under full sail, go 

 skimming along, happy as a 

 bird, in truth. 



You can never see us do that 

 unless you come to South 

 America. In captivity we act 

 differently, you know. Maybe 

 you have seen us, when in an 



inclosure, holding our wings 

 from our bodies and running up 

 and down as though we were 

 being chased, appearing greatly 

 alarmed. Well, that is all fun. 

 We have to do something to 

 while the time away. Then, too, 

 that is as near as we can come 

 to "sailing" as we did when wild 

 and free. 



You have heard so much about 

 the mother-bird sitting on the 

 nest, that I am sure you will be 

 interested in seeing a father who 

 broods the eggs and hatches out 

 the little ones. I have five wives. 

 They all lay their eggs in one 

 and the same nest, which is a 

 hollow pit scraped out by their 

 feet, the earth heaped up around 

 to form a sort of wall. They lay 

 the eggs, I have said, sometimes 

 thirty in a nest, and I — well, I 

 do the rest. 



We are dangerous fellows if 

 disturbed when brooding; have 

 been known to attack a man on 

 horseback, trying to kick and 

 leap on him. Our kick is no 

 love-tap, let me tell you, but 

 being so powerful we can easily 

 kill a man. 



When startled, or angry, we 

 utter a kind of grunt as a warn- 

 ing; if it is not heeded, we then 

 hiss sharply, draw back our 

 head, and get ready to strike. 



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