CHAPTER XIV. 



I. 



A VOLUMINOUS massive body mounted on tall legs of 

 four feet or more, and carrying a neck as long as 

 its legs ; a very small head and very large feet ; 

 great floating feathers ; a tail in the form of a plume 

 such are, in the physiognomy of the ostrich, the traits 

 which, even at a distance, the least attentive look 

 embraces. 



Approaching nearer, one sees that the head is bald 

 and flat ; the eye large and bright ; the beak short, 

 blunt, and depressed ; the neck slender, covered with 

 grey down ; that the feathers which cover the body 

 are large, soft, half curled, and glossy, of a magni- 

 ficent colour and brilliancy in the male ; the wings 

 themselves, composed of feathers with flexible stems, 

 are out of all proportion with the dimensions of the 

 animal : they evidently cannot serve them for flying, 

 and they seem to be there only as a kind of apology. 

 If we examine one of these feathers, we discover, in 



