210 THE OSTRICH. 



not only worn as they would have been by trituration 

 with other hard bodies, but they had evidently been 

 corroded by some juice, which could be seen above 

 all by the inequality of the clunks which had been 

 produced. The fragments of nails presented all 

 the appearance of true corrosion." 



Most frequently these errors of regime have no 

 serious inconvenience. One ostrich had a nail im- 

 planted in the inner sides of the gizzard ; another had 

 two nails lodged in the thick part of the mesentery 

 (where they could only have readied by. perforating the 

 stomach), and they had caused a very hard greenish 

 concretion, with which they were entirely coated. Nei- 

 ther of these animals appeared' in the least unwell. 

 But it often happens to those in captivity to become 

 the victims of their avidity. One ostrich is mentioned 

 which died from having swallowed a large quantity of 

 quick-lime. The menagerie of Paris possessed, twelve 

 years since, a magnificent couple, which it was hoped 

 would breed ; but a stone having fallen on the glass 

 roof of the den, the male and female hastened to swal- 

 low the broken glass, which lacerated their entrails. 

 In the same establishment- an ostrich succumbed, after 

 thirty-four clays, to an attack of indigestion, caused by 

 a dose of a pound and a half of nails. Dr. Berg men- 

 tions one which was killed by swallowing an enormous 

 shop-key. 



