STKUTH IONIUM 



STKUTHIONID.E. 



The general opinion u that the Ostrich is not polygamous. Tba 

 oumbr of egys does not seein to be correctly ascertained. From 20 

 to 30, and S3 with IS other* scattered around the inartificial nest a 

 mete pit in the sand, which is thrown up so as to form an elevated 

 edge round it, about three feet in diameter have been found together. 

 Some have made the number 80 ; others reduce it to 10. This is the 

 number that Le Vaillant would assign to a single female, although he 

 disturbed one from the nest containing the 38 eggs surrounded by 

 the 13 others. This nest he watched, and saw during the day the 

 four females successively sit upon them ; and towards the close of the 

 evening a male took his turn of incubation. This then was probably 

 a common nest in which several females had laid their eggs. 



The passage in Job (xxxix. 14) will occur to every one, and there 

 is no doubt that within the torrid zone the heat of the sun's rays 

 renders the incubation of the female unnecessary, excepting perhaps 

 at night; but in cooler latitudes she performs the maternal office 

 with assiduity, snd even in the warmer climates, where an officious 

 determination to sit would in all probability endanger the vitality of 

 the eggs, she watches over them ; and indeed the hunters have 

 learned from her actions, and doubling back in her flight to one 

 particular spot, where to seek for the nest If, as has been asserted, 

 the outlying eggs are intended to serve for the nourishment of the 

 young, it U a proof of provident cure for her offspring on the part of 

 the mother. 



The flesh of the Ostrich when young is good and palatable, and the 

 eggs an considered a great delicacy. Both Europeans and natives 

 agree in this hut opinion. The Hottentot, who abstracts the egg 

 from the nest with a long stick, that the hen may not take alarm at 

 the human touch, and not abandon the nest, but go on laying, as the 

 common hen will do to a great extent when her nest is robbed, 

 buries them in hot ashes. They are said to be excellent when eaten 

 with a sufficient quantity of butter. The brains of hundreds of these 

 birds not unfrequently made a dish at the insane Roman suppers ; 

 and Firmus is said to have eaten a whole ostrich at a meal. The 

 flesh of the bird was prohibited by the Mosaical law as unclean, and 

 the Arabs regard it in the same light ; but many of the barbarous 

 tribes of the interior of Africa feed on it without scruple. The well- 

 known plumes form a material article of commerce for the head-dress 

 of Kuropean ladies, &c. 



There is in the noble and admirably arranged zoological gallery 

 of the British Museum a fine and well-preserved series of young 

 ostriches. Not the slightest trace of a nail U observable on the exter- 

 nal toe of any of them, any more than on that of the adult bird. 

 The usual height of the ostrich is from 7 to 8 feet, but it has reached 

 11 feet 



The ostrich is a native of Africa, and is scarcely known beyond the 

 limits of the Arabian deserts. 



Canaritu (Briss.) Bill straight, carinated above, rounded and bent 

 at the point; upper mandible slightly vaulted; the edges depressed, 

 and notched or jagged towards the extremity ; the lower mandible 

 rather angular below towards the point ; nasal fossro nearly as long 

 as the bill Head helmeted. Front of the neck naked, and furnished 

 with two wattles. Toes three. Wings entirely unfit for flight, 

 furnished with five rounded naked pointed quills. 



C. Emeu has the bill compressed laterally, the head surmounted 

 with a bony prominence covered with a horny substance ; skin of the 

 bead and the upper part of the neck naked, tinged with cerulean 

 blue and flame colour, with pendent wattles like those of a turkey- 

 cock ; wings furnished with some stiff featberless quills; nail of the 

 internal toe much the strongest " It is," says Cuvier in continua- 

 tion, "the largest of the birds after the ostrich, from which it differs 

 sufficiently in its anatomy, for it has short intestines and small acca, 

 wants the intermediate stomach between the crop and the gizzard, 

 and its cloaca does not exceed that of other birds in proportion. 



This well-known bird was named Emeu by the early Portuguese 

 navigator). It is the Emru vulgo Cotoaru (the latter appearing to 

 be the Malayan appellation) of Bontius, the Strutltia Catuariut of 

 LonntBus, C'antarita galealut of Vieillot. and Cassowary of the British 

 naturalists, who now apply the term Emeu to the Australian Casso- 

 wary (/tromaiui, Vieill.). Its height when erect is about 5 feet 



It is a native of the peninsula of Malacca and the great chain of 

 islands to the south and east Bontius notes it from Ceram and the 

 other neighbouring Molucca Islands. M. Lesson observes that it is 

 rery common in the islands of the Asiatic Archipelago, and especially 

 at New Guinea. It is frequently seen alive in our menageries, and is 

 common in museums. 



This species, which is characterised by M. Lesson as " stupid and 

 massive," feeds on seeds and herbage according to him ; but Cuvier 

 says that it eaU fruits and eggs, but no grain. Bontius states that 

 he does not think it should be placed among the birds : "Alic enim 

 ad currendum pro velo, non ad volandum inserviunt" He add*, that 

 when irritated, it does not rush forward to the attack, but turns itself 

 obliquely, kicking backwards at the enemy. Cuvier observes that the 

 featherless quills serve the bird for offensive weapons. Bontius re- 

 marks that the eigi are very different from thorn of the Ostrich, by 

 reason of their thinness and colour, for their shell is greenish, orna- 

 mented with numerous tubercles of a deeper green (nature^ viridibus) : 

 he adds that they are eaten by the natives. Cuvier relates that the 



bird lays a small number of green eggs, which it abandons, like the 

 Ostrich, to the heat of the climate. 



Head and Foot of Couowary. 



Shea (Brian.). Bill straight, short, rather soft, furnished at its base 

 with an obliterated membrane, slightly depressed, moderate, the point 

 rounded, bent, and unguiculated: upper mandible with its back 

 elevated, notched towards the end ; lower mandible flat below ; nos- 

 trils large, longitudinal. Wings improper for flight, the phalanges 

 furnished with, plumes and terminated by a spur. Head completely 

 feathered. Feet three-toed, all the toes furnished with claws. 



Foot of ll'ira. 



In this genus the wing is better developed than in any of the Stru- 

 thious Birds, but it is still useless as an organ of flight 



Till lately the only species known was R/iea Americana, the Nhandu- 

 Quacu of the Brazilians. (Man-grave ; Piso.) It is described as 

 haunting the banks of rivers and having the same propensity for 

 swallowing iron and stones as the African Ostrich, running ro swiftly 

 and cunningly, aided by its wings, ai not only to evade the pursuit of 

 dogs, but the weapons of the barbarians. The females are said to lay 

 eggs like other ostriches, but smaller, in the sand ; and it is added 

 that the males sedulously perform the function of incubation. " Saloces 

 Bunt admodum, mentulamque aliquautum aduncam vibrant scope, 

 donee reperta femella earn rigidissime meant, suppresaamque diu im- 

 mobilem teneant" (I'iso.) The same author states that these American 

 Ostriches are fond of flesh, the best fruit?, and the little fishes washed 

 to the bank ; nor do they spare the gray amber, if they can gain pos- 

 session of it on the shore. He adds that their flesh is approved of 

 and solid, equalling that of our swans and geese. 



This American Ostrich is the Strulhio Hhra of Linnams, the Tuiju 

 of Lacdpede; but we owe the perfect knowledge of a second species 

 to Mr. Darwin, who has given a figure and ample descriptions of the 

 bird and its habits in the ' Zoology of the Beagle,' and in his ' Researches 

 in Zoology and Natural History;' but before we proceed to notice 



