NATIONAL ZOOLOGICAL PARK HOLLISTER 319 



beauty, interesting characteristics, peculiar coloration, or grotesque 

 appearance, most birds are popular as cage pets and the collections 

 in the Zoological Park are great attractions to the public. The 

 great flight cage near the west entrance, the bird house, the water- 

 fowl lakes, the eagle cage, and numerous smaller inclosures are used 

 to exhibit the birds to best advantage. Each variety is given so 

 far as possible the best conditions afforded by the natural features 

 of the park or the resources available for improvements. No com- 

 plete systematic arrangement of the birds is, therefore, practicable, 

 but so far as is convenient related birds are grouped together. 

 Twelve or more distinct orders of birds, according to recent schemes 

 of classification, are commonly represented in the park by numerous 

 species, and some of the most conspicuous or interesting varieties 

 of each group will be mentioned here in proper sequence. 



OSTRICH-LIKE BIRDS 



The existing members of this group (Ratitse) are, with the excep- 

 tion of the kiwis of New Zealand, all large birds. They are in- 

 capable of flight, but are swift of foot and exceedingly wary, and 

 are, moreover, able to defend themselves vigorously with beak and 

 foot. They are keen of sight and, except the cassowary, are in- 

 habitants of open country. 



The ostriches are of maximum size for existing birds, a full- 

 grown male sometimes measuring more than 8 feet in height. They 

 are distinguished from all other birds by having only two toes 

 on each foot. The true ostriches are now confined to Africa and 

 the adjacent portions of southwestern Asia, where several species 

 occur. Three of these forms are shown in the park. A specimen 

 of the great Somaliland ostrich (Strathio molyhdophanes) was pre- 

 sented to President Roosevelt by Emperor Menelik of Abyssinia, 

 and is a magnificient example of this fine bird. A somewhat similar 

 species is the Nubian ostrich (S. camelus). The South African 

 ostrich (S. australis) is the species most commonly kept on the 

 ostrich farms in the Southwest, where the bird is reared for its 

 feathers. The adult male ostrich is a splendid bird in his black and 

 white plumage, but the females and young males are of a dull 

 grayish-brown coloration. 



The ostrich is represented in South America by the rhea, one 

 species of which (Rhea americana) is kept in the park. This is a 

 bird of considerably less size than the ostrich; it has three toes, 

 and its feathers are of less commercial importance. Like its African 

 relative, it is an inhabitant of the open country and is found on the 

 pampas of Argentina and on the great plains of southern Brazil 

 and Bolivia. 



