THE OSTRICH. 



19 



of birds, have in general been contented with 

 telling their names, or describing their toes 

 or their plumage. It must often, therefore, 

 happen, that instead of giving the history of a 

 bird, we must be content to entertain the reader 

 with merely its description. I will, there- 

 fore, divide the following history of birds, 

 with Linnaeus, into six parts ; in the first of 

 which I will give such as Brisson has ranged 

 among the rapacious birds ; next those of the 

 pie kind ; and thus go on through the suc- 

 ceeding classes, till I finish with those of the 

 duck kind. But before I enter upon a syste- 

 matic detail, I will beg leave to give the his- 

 tory of three or four birds, that do not well 

 range in any system. These, from their great 

 size, are sufficiently distinguishable from the 

 rest; and from their incapacity of flying, lead 

 a life a good deal differing from the rest of the 

 feathered creation. The birds I mean are 

 the Ostrich, the Cassowary, the Emu, the 

 Dodo, and the Solitaire. 



CHAP. IV. 



THE OSTRICH. 



(See Plate XT. fig. 38.) 



IN beginning with the feathered tribe, the 

 first animal that offers seems to unite the class 

 of quadrupeds and of birds in itself. While 

 it has the general outline and properties of a 

 bird, yet it retains many of the marks of the 

 quadruped. In appearance the ostrich resem- 

 bles the camel, and is almost as tall; it 'is 

 covered with a plumage that resembles hair 

 much more nearly than feathers, and its in- 

 ternal parts bear as near a similitude to those 

 of the quadruped, as of the bird creation. It 

 may be considered, therefore, as an animal 

 made to fill up that chasm in nature which se- 

 parates one class of beings from another. 



The ostrich is the largest of all birds. Tra- 

 vellers affirm, that they are seen as tall as a 

 man on horseback ; and even some of those 

 that have been brought into England were 

 above seven feet high. The head and bill 

 somewhat resemble those of a duck ; and the 

 neck may be likened to that of a swan, but 

 that it is much longer ; the legs and thighs 

 resemble those of a hen ; though the whole 

 appearance bears a strong resemblance to that 

 of a camel. But to be more particular : it is 

 usually seven feet high from the top of the 

 head to the ground ; but from the back it is 

 only four; so that the head and neck are 

 above three feet long. From the top of the 

 head to the rump, when the neck is stretched 

 out in a right line, it is six feet long, and the 



tail is about a foot more. One of the wings, 

 without the feathers, is a foot and a half; and 

 being stretched out, with the feathers, is three 

 feet. 



The plumage is much alike in all ; that is, 

 generally black and white ; though some of 

 them are said to be gray. The greatest fea- 

 thers are at the extremities of the wings arid 

 tail, and the largest are generally white. The 

 next row is black and white ; and of the small 

 feathers, on the back and belly, some are 

 white and others black. There are no fea- 

 thers on the sides, nor yet on the thighs, nor 

 under the wings. The lower part of the 

 neck, about half way, is covered with still 

 smaller feathers than those on the belly and 

 back ; and those, like the former, also are of 

 different colours. 



All these feathers are of the same kind, 

 and peculiar to the ostrich; for other birds 

 have several sorts, some of which are soft and 

 downy, and others hard and strong. Ostrich 

 feathers are almost all as soft as down, being 

 utterly unfit to serve the animal for flying, 

 and still less adapted to be a proper defence 

 against external injury. The feathers of other 

 birds have the webs broader on one side than 

 the other, but. those of the ostrich have their 

 shaft exactly in the middle. The upper part 

 of the head and neck is covered with a very 

 fine, clear, white hair, that shines like the 

 bristles of a hog ; and in some places there are 

 small tufts of it, consisting of about twelve 

 hairs, which grow from a single shaft about 

 the thickness of a pin. 



At the end of each wing there is a kind of 

 spur, almost like the quill of a porcupine. It 

 is an inch long, being hollow, and of a horny 

 substance. There are two of these on each 

 wing, the largest of which is at the extremity 

 of the bone of the wing, and the other a foot 

 lower. The neck seems to be more slender 

 in proportion to that of other birds, from its 

 not being furnished with feathers. The skin 

 in this part is of a livid flesh-colour, which 

 some improperly would have to be blue. The 

 bill is short and pointed, and two inches and 

 a half at the beginning. The external form 

 of the eye is like that of man, the upper eye- 

 lid being adorned with eye-lashes, which are 

 longer than those on the lid below. The 

 tongue is small, very short, and composed of 

 cartilages, ligaments, and membranes, inter- 

 mixed with fleshy fibres. In some it is about 

 an inch long, and very thick at the bottom. 

 In others it is but half an inch, being a little 

 forked at the end. 



The thighs are very fleshy and large, being 

 covered with a white skin, inclining to red- 

 ness, and wrinkled in the manner of a net, 

 whose meshes will admit the end of a finger. 

 Some have very small feathers here and there 



