44 THE OSTRICH. 



quadrupeds ; and the parts of generation also bear 

 a very strong resemblance and analogy. 



Such is the structure of this animal, forming 

 the shade that unites birds and quadrupeds ; and 

 from this structure its habits and manners are 

 entirely peculiar. It is a native only of the tor- 

 rid regions of Africa, and has long been celebrat- 

 ed by those who have had occasion to mention 

 the animals of that region. Its flesh is proscribed 

 in Scripture as unfit to be eaten ; and most of the 

 ancient writers describe it as well known in their 

 times. Like the race of the elephant, it is trans- 

 mitted down without mixture, and has never 

 been known to breed out of that country which 

 first produced it. It seems formed to live among 

 the sandy and burning deserts of the torrid zone ; 

 and as in some measure it owes its birth to their 

 genial influence, so it seldom migrates into tracts 

 more mild or more fertile. As that is the pecu- 

 liar country of the elephant, the rhinoceros, and 

 camel, so it may readily be supposed capable of 

 affording a retreat to the ostrich. They inhabit 

 from preference the most solitary and horrid de- 

 serts, where there are few vegetables to clothe 

 the surface of the earth, and where the rain never 

 comes to refresh it. The Arabians assert that 

 the ostrich never drinks, and the place of its habir 

 tation seems to confirm the assertion. In these 

 formidable regions, ostriches are seen in large 

 flocks, which to the distant spectator appear like 

 a regiment of cavalry, and have often alarmed a 

 whole caravan. There is no desert, how barren 

 soever, but what is capable of supplying these 



