THE OSTRICH. 209 



copper candlestick, wliich latter was some time after- 

 wards ejected quite flattened. 



Ostriches were being exhibited at St. Quentin. 

 One gentleman, on whose breast shone a beautiful 

 gold chain, having approached within reach of the 

 beak of one of these birds, saw, in the twinkling 

 of an eye, his chain and watch pass from the neck 

 and pocket of their proprietor, into the stomach of 

 the gluttonous animal. 



An ostrich preserved ill the Museum of Natural 

 History had in its body, when it died, about a pound 

 of stones, pieces of iron and copper, and half-worn 

 coins. Vallisnieri dissected one of these animals, 

 and here is the inventory of the objects which he 

 found there : cords, stones, glass, iron, copper, 

 pewter, and above all a lump of lead, the last thing 

 swallowed, and wliich did not weigh less than a 

 pound. One individual, opened by Perrault, had 

 swallowed seventy pieces of copper money, already 

 reduced to three-fourths by their sojourn in the robust 

 organ which contained them. Perrault attributed their 

 wear to a mechanical action. Vallisnieri, on the con- 

 trary, without excluding the action of friction, saw 

 there also a particular chemical action. This is the 

 true opinion. Cuvier confirms it in these words : 

 " The bits of iron found in the stomach " speaking 

 of an ostrich which had lived in a menagerie " were 



p 



