OSTRICH. 615 



fiiiually watches for their preservation, so long as they remain in a 

 helpless state, which is longer or shorter according to the climate. 

 Neither the size of the eggs of these birds, nor the time necessary for 

 hutching them, nor the number of their young, are exactly ascer- 

 tained. Some accounts say, that they produce twice or thrice in 

 the year, each brood containing ten or twelve young. Willoughby 

 assigns them no less than fifty eggs in a year ; a number, which, 

 at the weight of fifteen pounds each, would make the bird produce 

 seven hundred and fifty pounds weight of eggs ; too much, surely, 

 for an animal weighing only eighty pounds. 



2. Rhea, or American Ostrich. 

 Struthio-rhea. Linn 



Feet three-toed, and a rouud callus behind. This bird is so 

 nearly allied to the ostrich, that it may be considered as his repre- 

 sentative in the New Continent, to which it peculiarly belongs. It 

 inhabits Guiana, Brazil, Chili, and those immense forests that ex- 

 tend northward from the mouth of the river Plata ; and is found 

 as far south as the Megallanic Straits. Formerly these birds were 

 more widely spread over South America ; but, in proportion as 

 population increased, these timid animals fled from their habitations, 

 or became victims to superior power. 



The rhea, being next in size to the black ostrich, is by far the 

 largest bird in the New World. The adults are six feet high \ and 

 Wafer, who measured the thigh of one ot the tallest, found it equal 

 to that of a man ; while the leg was three feet long. It has the 

 long neck, small head, and flat beak, that distinguish the black os- 

 trich ; but, in other respects, it has a great resemblance to the 

 cassowary. The shape of the body is oval ; and, when covered 

 fully with feathers, approaches to rotundity. Its wings are so 

 short as to be useless for flight, but like those of the ostrich, may 

 probably give some assistance in running. The back aud rump 

 are covered with long feathers, which hang down over the anus, 

 and form what, in this animal, is the tail. The whole upper part 

 of the body is covered with grey plumage, and the under with 

 white. The toes are three, all before : behind there is a callous 

 kind of heel, which supports the bird, and is supposed to assist it 

 in running. It possesses the same remarkable velocity which cha- 

 racterizes the ostrich ; and its running is attended with a singular 

 motion of its wings. It raises one for some time above the body, 



2r4 



