292 THE OSTRICH. 



The American Ostriches are not only most affectionate, but 

 sociable, laying together in the same nest, or rather the same 

 hole, showing equal attention to their joint broods ; and that 

 they are not deficient in attachment towards each other, the 

 following affecting story fully proves. 



A pair of Ostriches had long been kept in the Zoological 

 Gardens, at Paris. The skylight over their heads having been 

 broken, the glaziers proceeded to repair it, and, in the course 

 of their work, let fall a triangular piece of glass. Not long 

 after this, the female Ostrich was taken ill, and died in an 



The Ostrich. 



hour or two, in great agony. The body was opened, and the 

 throat and stomach were found to have been dreadfully lacer- 

 ated by the sharp corners of the glass, which she had swallowed. 

 From the moment his companion was taken from him, the 

 male had no rest : he appeared to be incessantly searching for 

 something, and gradually wasted away. He was moved from 

 the spot, in the hope that he would forget his grief ; he was 

 even allowed more liberty ; but nought availed, and he literally 

 pined away till he died. 



Their swiftness is proverbial ; to run like an Ostrich is, in 

 its own country, the same as to say in ours, to run like a grey- 



