208 THE OSTRICH. 



equally well, and can never be approached except by 

 surprise. 



It is quite otherwise with its sonso of taste ; and 

 the want of nicety in this sense, joined to the 

 voracity and to the instinct common among birds, 

 which leads it to introduce hard substances into its 

 stomach, to augment the strength of trituration of 

 that organ, causes it, in captivity at least, to swallow 

 without discernment all objects, whatever they may 

 be, which are presented to it, or which come within 

 reach of its beak. Wood, bone, stones, metals, glass, 

 paper, pieces of money v nails all are good for it. 

 As soon as it is seized, the object is forced down 

 the throat by a backward movement. 



M. Henri Aucapitaine reports that' the Bureau dcs 

 Affaires PuUiques, at Cherchell, possessed an ostrich 

 penned in one of the interior courts. " Every even- 

 ing," says he, "we amused ourselves by feeding him 

 with old papers, envelopes, and pieces of news- 

 papers, which he swallowed greedily, and with evident 

 gusto.'' 



The traveller Eichardson saw an ostrich in an 

 African village, where it wandered about in full 

 liberty, gathering up everything, like a ragman. 



MM. Verreaux relate, that at the Cape, one 



of the ostriches which they possessed swallowed, 







one after the other, a large piece of soap and a 



