1833.] THE SOUTH AMERICAN OSTRICH. 99 



Sturt,* when descending the Murrumbidgee, in Australia, 

 saw two emus in the act of swimming. 



The inhabitants of the country readily distinguish, even 

 at a distance, the cock bird from the hen. The former is 

 larger and darker-coloured, t and has a bigger head. The 

 ostrich, I believe the cock, emits a singular, deep-toned, 

 hissing note : when first I heard it, standing in the midst of 

 some sand-hillocks, I thought it was made by some wild 

 beast, for it is a sound that one cannot tell whence it 

 comes, or from how far distant. When we were at Bahia 

 Blanca in the months of September and October, the eggs, 

 in extraordinary numbers, were found all over the countr)^ 

 They lie either scattered and single, in which case they are 

 never hatched, and are called by the Spaniards huachos ; 

 or they are collected together into a shallow excavation, 

 which forms the nest. Out of the four nests which I saw, 

 three contained twenty-two eggs each, and the fourth 

 twenty-seven. In one day's hunting on horseback sixty- 

 four eggs were found ; forty-four of these were in two 

 nests, and the remaining twenty, scattered huachos. 

 The Gauchos unanimously affirm, and there is no 

 reason to doubt their statement, that the male bird 

 alone hatches the eggs, and for some time afterwards 

 accompanies the young. The cock when on the nest lies 

 very close ; I have myself almost ridden over one. It 

 is asserted that at such times they are occasionally fierce, 

 and even dangerous, and that they have been known to 

 attack a man on horseback, trying to kick and leap on 

 him. My informer pointed out to me an old man, whom 

 he had seen much terrified by one chasing him. I observe 

 in Burchell's "Travels in South Africa" that he re- 

 marks, "Having killed a male ostrich, and the feathers 

 being dirty, it was said by the Hottentots to be a nest 

 bird." I understand that the male emu in the Zoological 

 Gardens takes charge of the nest : this habit, therefore, 

 is common to the family. 



The Gauchos unanimously affirm that several females lay 

 in one nest. I have been positively told that four or five 

 hen birds have been watched to go in the middle of the day, 

 one after the other, to the same nest. 1 may add, also, that 

 It is believed in Africa, that two or more females lay in on<.' 



* Sturt'* " Travel*," vol. ii., p. 74. 



t A Gaucho aaiiured me that he had once keen a aaoW'Wbitc or albino variety 

 tad that it waa a most beautiful bird. 



