68 Of the Oftrich. 



are the Arabs ever dextrous enough, to overtake them ; though 

 they are mounted, upon their J'lnje^ or Horfes, as they are 

 called^ of Family '. They^ 'when they raife themfehes up for 

 Flighty (v. 1 8.) laugh at the Horfe and his Rider: They afford 

 him an Opportunity only of admiring, at a Diftance, the ex- 

 traordinary Agility and the Statelinefs likewife of their Mo- 

 tions ; the Richnefs of their Plumage ; and the great Propriety 

 there was of afcribing to them, (v. 15.) an expanded, quroer- 

 ing Wing. Nothing certainly can be more beautiful and en- 

 tertaining than fuch a Sight ; the Wings, by their repeated, 

 though unwearied Vibrations, equally ferving them for Sails 

 and Oars ; whilft their Feet, no lefs affifting in conveying 

 them out of Sight, are no lefs infenfible of Fatigue. 

 Theo/r^^ By the repeated Accounts which I have had from my Con- 

 thirty to fif- duflors, as well as from Avals of different Places, I have been 

 informed, that the Oftrich lays from thirty to fifty Eggs. 

 JElian ' mentions more than eighty ; but I never heard of fo 

 large a Number. The nrft Egg they lay, is depofited in the 

 Centre ; the reft, as conveniently as they can be, round about 

 it. In this Manner it is faid to lay, depoftt or truft (v. 14.) her 

 Eggs in the Earth , and to warm them in the Sand, and for- 

 getteth, (as they are not placed like thofe of fome other Birds, 

 upon Trees, or in the Clefts of Rocks &c.) that the Foot (of 

 the Traveller) may crujij them, or that the wild Beaft may 

 hreah them. 

 Some of the Yet notwithftandins the ample Provifion there is hereby 



Eggs fcrve . 



for Food to made for a numerous Offspring, fcarce one Quarter of thefe 

 ones!°""^ Eggs, are ever fuppofed to be hatcht : and of thofe that are, 

 no fmall Ihare of the young ones, from being left too early, 

 by their Dams, to fhift for themfelves, may perifh with 

 Hunger. For in thefe, the moft barren and defolate RecelTes 

 of the Sahara, where the Oftrich choofes to make her Neft, 

 it would not be enough to lay Eggs and hatch them, unlefs 

 fome proper Food was near at Hand, and already prepared 

 for their Nourifhment. And accordingly, we are not to con- 



1 Thefe Horfes are defcended from fuch as were concerned in the HagjrA, or Eight, 

 ^h\c\\ Mahomet, together with Omar, Abttbecker &c. made from Mecca to Medina. There 

 is as exad an Account taken and preferved of their Pedigrees, as there is of the greacFa- 

 milies of Kings ana Princes, in Europe, 



2 Hift. Animal. 1. 14, c, 7. 



lider 



