662 OSSIFRAGE—OSTRICH - 
very tall tree,—their fierceness in defence of their eggs and young 
is not to be despised. Men and boys have had their head gashed 
by the sharp claw of the angry parent, and this, happening when 
the robber is already in a precarious predicament and unable to 
use any defensive weapon, renders the enterprise formidable. But 
the prize is worthy of the danger. Few birds lay eggs so beautiful 
or so rich in colouring: their white or pale ground is spotted, 
blotched or marbled with almost every shade of purple, orange 
and red — passing from the most delicate lilac, buff and peach- 
blossom, through violet, chestnut and crimson, to a nearly absolute 
black. A few years ago some of the best-informed ornithologists 
were led to think that persecution had extirpated the Osprey in 
Great Britain, except as a chance visitant. ‘This opinion proved to 
be incorrect, and at the present time the bird is believed still to 
breed in at least two counties of Scotland, but the secret of its 
resorts should be carefully guarded by those who wish to retain it 
as a member of the country’s fauna, for indiscreet publication would 
endanger its occupancy. 
OSSIFRAGE, see OSPREY. 
OSTRICH (Old English, Hstridge ; French, Autruche ; Spanish, 
Avestiuz; Latin, Avis struthio). Among exotic birds there can 
be hardly one better known by report than the strange, majestic 
and fleet-footed creature that “scorneth the horse and his rider,” 
or one that from the earliest times to the present has been oitener 
more or less fully described ; and there must be few persons in any 
civilized country unacquainted with the appearance of this, the 
largest of living birds, whose size is not insignificant in comparison 
even with the mightiest of the plumed giants that of old existed 
upon the earth, since an adult male will stand nearly 8 feet in 
height, and weigh 300 pounds. 
As to the ways of the Ostrich in a state of nature, not much has 
been added of late years to the knowledge acquired and imparted 
by former travellers and naturalists, many of whom enjoyed oppor- 
tunities that will never again occur of discovering its peculiarities, 
for even the most favourably-placed of their successors in recent 
years seem to content themselves with repeating the older observa- 
tions, and to want either leisure or patience to make additions 
thereto, their personal acquaintance with the bird not amounting to 
more than such casual meetings with it as must inevitably fall to 
the lot of those who traverse its haunts. Thus there are still 
several dubious points in its natural history. On the other hand we 
unquestionably know far more than our predecessors respecting its 
geographical distribution, which has been traced with great minute- 
ness in the /’égel Ost-Afrikas of Drs. Finsch and Hartlaub, who have 
therein given (pp. 597-607) the most comprehensive account of the 
