OSTRICHES. 249 



Most, if not all, of these birds are remarkable 

 for the peculiarity of their incubation. Many 

 females unite in the occupation of a single nest, in 

 which a great number of eggs are laid, which are 

 sat upon chiefly by the male ; who, when dis- 

 turbed, feigns lameness, an artifice common to 

 birds which nestle on the ground. The hind toe 

 is wanting in all the genera, except the singular 

 Apteryx of New Zealand, where it exists in the 

 form of a small rudiment. 



FAMILY I. STRUTHIONIDJE. 



The Ostriches are birds of gigantic size, with 

 the neck and legs greatly developed in length. 

 Their plumage is peculiarly lax and flexible, the 

 barbs being decomposed, very fine, weak, and 

 permanently separate, instead of hooking into one 

 another in that manner which gives so much 

 firmness to' an ordinary feather. The elegance of 

 the soft, broad, and gracefully curved plumes of 

 an Ostrich's wing and tail is well known and uni- 

 versally admired. In some genera, the barbs of the 

 feathers are so slight, that the plumage resembles 

 coarse hair. The wings are small, or rudimen- 

 tary ; the thighs remarkably stout and muscular ; 

 the leg and tarsus are very long ; the toes are three, 

 or in one genus only two, and in the latter case, 

 but one is furnished with a nail somewhat re- 

 sembling a hoof. The beak is rather short, and 

 horizontally flattened, the tip rounded; the tongue 

 is short and of a crescent form ; the eye is large 

 and full, and the lids are furnished with long lashes. 



