330 



OSTRICHES. 



island in bays. They are hunted by men on horseback, and captured either 

 by means of the lasso, or with an instrument composed of two large balls or 

 heavy stones, united by a long leather thong. The latter instrument is thrown 

 at the legs of the bird, which it binds together, and of course prevents all 

 further progress. 



In New Holland the ostrich is represented by the Emu. {Dromaiiis Novcc 

 Holland'!). In the emu the feet have three toes. Its distincti\e characters 

 consist in the position of the nostrils, which open not far from the tip of the 

 upper mandible, in the complete concealment of the wings under the hair-like 



Fig i66 —The Amfrican Ostrich (A /itrt hiunca/.a) 



feathers of the body, and in the claws of all the toes being nearly of equal 

 length. This bird is inferior in size only to the African ostrich, measuring 

 Irom five to seven feet in height. The crown of its head and the back of the 

 neck are clothed with feathers, but the throat is naked, and the plumage, which 

 hangs down like long hair on each side of the body, is of a mixture of brown 

 and grey tints. The emu is abundant in the southern parts of Australia, but 

 is rapidly becoming extinct in the British colonies. Its flesh is very good, 

 that of the young bird being exceedingly delicate. The eggs, which are of a 

 green colour, arc also eaten both by natives and colonists ; the inhabitants of 



