378 



FOREIGN BIRDS, 



Their structure— their manners from fable apart, 

 Are wondrous — then wherefore embellish with art ? 



It is said that it never drinks. In its natural state grains 

 and fruit are its principal food ; but it will swallow, in confine- 

 ment, almost every thing, and that with greediness, such 

 as bits of iron, copper, glass, lead, &c. which sometimes 

 prove fatal to it; it swallows pebbles in its natural state, 

 most probably to assist the comminution of its food, like many 

 other birds, although its interior structure has, it is said, a great 

 affinity to that of quadrupeds. In some of our books of natural 

 history it is stated that the heart and lungs of this bird are 

 separated by a diaphragm j but Mr. Brookes, in a lecture at 

 the Zoological Society, April 25, 1827, on the Ostrich which 

 was lately dissected there, stated that the thorax and abdomen 

 were not separated by a diaphragm ; and the drawing which he 

 exhibited of the bird confirmed his statement. He also stated, 

 as a remarkable fact, that the intestinal canal of the Ostrich 

 was generally about eighty feet in length, while that of the 

 Cassowary was considerably shorter. The rings in the trachea 

 of this bird exceeded 200 in number ; its height was more than 

 nine feet. See page 51. 



This bird was a female, which had been in the possession of 

 his Majesty for about two years; it died of obesity, and, from 

 its appearance, its weight must have been, it is presumed, more 

 than 150 pounds. Many gentlemen partook of the flesh. The 

 sexual organs and the kidneys differ, it is said, materially from 

 other birds; it has also two stomachs; the first is muscular, 

 and appears to act by trituration, in the other there is a gastric 

 liquor. 



This bird prefers for its residence those mountainous and 

 parched deserts which are never refreshed by rain. In those 

 solitary regions they are seen in vast flocks, and are there 

 hunted on fleet Arabian horses, for their blood, their fat, and the 

 feathers found in the wings and tail ; these last have been sought 

 after more or less in all ages; it is said, however, that this bird 



