THE OSTRICH, 357 
of their habits they also resemble each other ; the Ostrich lies down 
in the same way as the camel, by first bending the knee, then leaning 
forward on the fleshy part of the sternum, and letting its hinder 
quarters sink down last of all. 
An entire volume might be filled with fables recorded of the 
Ostrich. According to the Arabs, it is the progeny of a bird anda 
camel, One Arabian author states that it is aquatic ; another main- 
tains that it never drinks ; some that its principal food consists of 
stones and bits of iron. Buffon himself asserts that it mzeAt swallow 
red-hot iron, provided the quantity was small. Pliny and (following 
him) Pierre Belon, the naturalist of the Renaissance, state that when 
the Ostrich is pursued it fancies itself safe if it can place its head 
behind a tree, believing that, as it cannot see its pursuers, they cannot 
see it. 
That the Ostrich is extremely voracious is certain. Although the 
senses of sight and hearing are so highly developed that it is said to 
distinguish objects six miles off, and the slightest sounds excite its 
ear, the senses of taste and smell are very imperfect. This is the 
explanation given for its readiness to swallow unedible substances. 
In a wild state it takes into its stomach large pebbles, to increase its 
digestive powers ; in captivity it gorges bits of wood and metal, 
pieces of glass, plaster, and chalk, probably with the same object. 
The pieces of iron found in the body of one dissected by Cuvier 
*‘ were not only worn away,” says the great naturalist, “‘as they would 
likely be by trituration against other hard bodies, but they had been 
considerably reduced by some digestive juice, and presented all the 
evidence of actual corrosion.” 
Herbage, insects, molluscs, small reptiles, and even small mam- 
malia, are the principal food of the wild Ostrich ; when it is in a state 
of domesticity even young chickens are frequently devoured by it. 
It is capable of enduring hunger and thirst for many days —about the 
most useful faculty it could possess in the arid and burning deserts 
which it inhabits—but it is quite a mistake to suppose “t never 
drinks, for it will travel immense distances in search of water when it 
has suffered a long deprivation, and will then drink with evident 
pleasure. 
The muscular power of the Ostrich is truly surprising. If matured 
it can carry a man on its back ; and is readily trained to be mounted 
like a horse, and to bear a burden. The tyrant Firmius, who reigned 
in Egypt in the third century, was drawn about bya team of ostriches : ; 
even now the negroes frequently use it for riding. 
When it first feels the weight of its rider, the Ostrich starts at a 
