THE OSTRICH. 45 



However, it may be proper to apprise the reader that nc will not 

 lere find his curiosity satisfied, as in the former volumes, where we 

 often took Mr. Buffon for our guide. Those who have hitherto writ 

 ten the natural history of birds, have in general been contented with 

 telling their names, or describing their toes or their plumage. It musi 

 often, therefore, happen, that instead of giving the history of a bird 

 we must be content to entertain the reader with merely its descrip- 

 tion. I will therefore divide the following history of birds, with Lin- 

 naeus, 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 succeeding classes, till I finish with those oi 

 the duck kind. But before I enter upon a systematic detail, I will beg 

 leave to give the history of three or four birds, that do not well range 

 in any system. These, from their great size, are sufficiently dis 

 tinguishable 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 

 'he Solitaire. 



CHAPTER IV. 



THE OSTRICH. 



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 resembles 

 the camel, and is almost as tall ; it is covered with a plumage that re- 

 sembles hair much more nearly than feathers, and its internal 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 liil up 

 ihut chasm in nature which separates one class of beings from auather. 



The ostrich is the largest of all birds. Travellers 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 

 throe feet long. From the top of the head to the rump, when the 

 aeck 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 

 nnd a half; and being stretched out, with the feathers, is three fcet 



