122 Ostriches. 



incorrect, as, though the inner toe has a stout 

 and hoof -like claw, the outer one is clawless. If 

 we may believe this author, ostriches must have 

 been commoner in Europe in his time than they 

 are at present, as he says : " L'Autruche est ja 

 si commune qu'en oultre ce qu'on la cognoist de 

 nom, assui y a peu de gens qui n'en ayent veu." 



Leaving ancient history, it may be said that the 

 ostrich, though it does not thrive on a diet of 

 stones, metal, and so forth, is fairly omnivorous, 

 as nothing seems to come amiss to it. Vegetable 

 substances of all sorts, including grain, seeds, and 

 berries, together with beetles, locusts, small birds, 

 and animals, snakes, and lizards, are said to be 

 devoured indiscriminately, and it is a fact that the 

 birds will pick up and swallow almost anything 

 that comes in their way for example, pieces of 

 wood or metal, stones, cord, glass, indeed, any- 

 thing that is not too large or too heavy. This 

 habit is, however, often fatal to them. To give 

 only two examples from birds formerly in the Zoo, 

 one is said to have owed its death to the fact that 

 it swallowed part of a parasol, while the other 

 came to its end by the aid of 9Jd. worth of copper 

 money. Finally, the ostrich, though by no means 

 a pleasant fowl, is not as bad as it was painted by 

 the ancients, and is certainly not guilty of the 

 unnatural conduct attributed to it of leaving its 

 eggs, and therefore its young to take care of 

 themselves, the fact being that not only do the 

 hens, which lay in one nest, relieve one another in 



