-B6 ORDER CURSORES; GENERAL CHARACTERS. 



absence of wings, but in the character of the plumage, that the 

 want of adaptation of these Birds to flight in the air is mani- 

 fested. For, as already stated ( 325), the barbs of the feathers 

 have so little adhesion to each other, that the air can pass readily 

 between them ; and in some species they are at such a distance 

 from each other, as to give the whole feather the appearance of 

 a stout branching hair. All these birds construct their nests 

 upon the ground ; and in several species it appears that numer- 

 ous females lay in the same nest ; the eggs, to the number of 

 thirty, or even more, being chiefly tended by the male. 



438. As in most other very aberrant groups, the number of 

 species contained in this order is small ; but they differ consider- 

 ably from each other in form and Sv/ucture, especially as regards 

 the beak and feet. Formerly, when the Dodo was still placed 

 amongst these birds, the heterogeneous composition of the order 

 was still more striking. As at present constituted, all its mem- 

 bers but two have a broad and depressed beak and legs of con- 

 siderable length, these form the family of the STRTJTHIONIDJE, or 

 Ostriches, including the Ostrich, properly so called, which has 

 only two toes ; and the Rhea, or American Ostrich, the Cas- 

 sowary, and the Emeu, which have three toes all turned for- 

 wards. In the curious Apteryx of New Zealand, of which two 

 species are now known, the bill is elongated, slender, and curved, 

 with the nostrils placed at its tip ; and the feet are furnished with 

 a short hind toe. These singular birds form the family APTERY- 

 GIDJS. Besides these, the remains of several allied species of 

 gigantic Birds have been found in New Zealand and Mada- 

 gascar. 



439. In the Ostrich the wings are sufficiently developed to 

 accelerate the speed of the Bird, when running along the plains 

 it frequents ; although the plumage is lax and flexible. The 

 African Ostrich, which has been known from remote antiquity, 

 is the tallest of all Birds at present known to exist ; it attains 

 the height of six feet and a half, or even eight feet ; and is 

 chiefly distinguished by the presence of only two toes upon each 

 foot, one of them being much larger than the other (Fig. 185). 

 It inhabits the sandy deserts of Arabia and Africa, everywhere 



