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Vol. II. PROVIDENCE, JULY 1, 1885. 



Entered at the Providence Post-Office as Second-Class Matter. 



No. 7. 



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Wingless Birds. 



African Ostriches. — Well-known ex- 

 amples of wingless or brevipennate birds, 

 all belonging to the true Cursores ; are the 

 Ostriches, the Emu, and the Cassowaries. 

 The best known species is the Ostrich, 

 Strnthio camelus, an inhabitant of the 

 African continent. This bird, which has 

 been celebrated since the most remote 

 antiquit}', and a dish of whose brains was 

 an epicurean dish in Old Rome, measures 

 from six to eight feet in height ; its feet 

 consist of only two toes ; the head and 

 neck are nearly naked, the general plumage 

 very lax, the quill feathers of the wings 

 and tail remarkable for the length of their 

 barbs, which, though furnished with barb- 

 ules, are completely separate from each 

 other, and form the well-known ostrich 

 feathers of commerce. The ostriches live 

 together in large flocks, feeding upon grass, 

 grain, wild melons, etc., and, like the galli- 

 naceous birds, which they resemble in their 

 food, have an enormous crop and a strong 

 gizzard. In a state of nature it picks up 

 and swallows small pebbles ; but in con- 

 finement it has swallowed brickbats, knives, 

 old shoes, scraps of wood, tenpcnny nails, 

 bits of iron, and feathers ; one went to the 

 length of swallowing in succession the 

 whole of a brood of young ducks ; whether 

 impelled by normal liunger, a morbid appe- 



tite, or sheer mischief, is an open question. 

 Another tried to swallow its blanket. The 

 voracity of the Ostrich formerly gave rise 

 to the belief that it fed on iron. The 

 African ostrich is polygamous and gregari- 

 ous. The female scratches a hole in the 

 sand, in which she lays ten or twelve eggs 

 in an upright position. The male and 

 female both sit upon the eggs during the 

 night, and this sitting, supplemented by the 

 heat of the sun, hatches those in the middle 

 of the nest, the outer ones, when the centre 

 eggs are hard and the voung birds nearU' 

 hatched, being quite fit for food ; the eggs 

 weigh upon an average three pounds, and 

 are regarded as great delicacies. Though 

 equal in weight to twenty-four hen's eggs, 

 one is not thought enough for a meal, and 

 in one instance two men finished five eggs 

 in the course of an afternoon. The ap- 

 proved method of cooking is to place the 

 egg upright on the fire, break a hole in the 

 top, through which a forked stick is forced. 

 This is made to rotate by rubbing with the 

 hands, and so beats up the contents while 

 cooking. 



American Ostriches. — The American 

 Ostriches contain two species, Rhea Ameri- 

 cana and R. Darwinii, and are scarceh' more 

 than half the size of the African species, 

 from which the}' also differ in having the 

 head and neck covered with feathers, and 

 the feet furnished with three toes. The 

 feathers of the wing and tail, though 

 elongated, possess none of the beauty of 

 the African ostrich, and are only employed 

 in the manufacture of light dusting-brooms. 

 They are very abundant in the large plains 

 of America. The food consists mainly of 

 grasses, roots, and other vegetable sub- 

 stances, but they will occasionally eat 

 animal food, being known to come down to 

 the mud-banks of the rivers for the purpose 

 of eating the little fish that have been 

 stranded in the shallows. Darwin, who 

 had frequent opportunities of observing 

 these birds, has given an excellent account 

 of their habits. lie says: "They take 

 the water readily, and swim across broad 



