OSTRICHES. 



299 



Pouch of Bustard. 



rabbit-trap, in the month of May, 1829, and the male was 

 seen about the same time in the neighbourhood. 



One great peculiarity deserves mentioning, namely, a sin- 

 gular pouch which they have, large 

 enough to hold upwards of a quart 

 of water. Its use has not been as- 

 certained ; by many it was supposed 

 to be a provision of nature for sup- 

 plying them with water, living as 

 they did in vast plains, where water 

 was not common ; but as it is con- 

 fined to the male, this supposition 

 seems to be erroneous, unless, when 

 the female is confined to her nest, 

 her mate provides her with water 

 from this reservoir. 



We come now to the last tribe in the gallinaceous order, 

 consisting of birds altogether foreign, of very peculiar habits : 

 these, as far as wings and flight are concerned, having 

 scarcely a right to be classed amongst birds, as they never 

 quit the ground, and know nothing of the power possessed 

 by others of the feathered race, of soaring aloft, and fleeing 

 away like the Dove, should they wish to seek for food, or 

 repose, in a distant country. These birds are the Ostrich, 

 the Emu or the Cassowary, and one or two others little 

 known. 



Of these the Ostrich is the most common ; its beautiful 

 light plumes have long been used as ornaments in ladies' 

 head-dresses ; and to this, probably, as it was diligently 

 sought after as a valuable prize to the captor, we are in- 

 debted for all we know of its natural history, though still 

 much remains unknown, for no bird has been more misrepre- 

 sented ; first, as a parent, who, after laying her eggs in the 

 desert, left them to he hatched by the sun, and cherished no 

 affection for her young. This, indeed, is the character she 

 bore in the ancient days of the prophet Jeremiah, who com- 

 pares the Ostrich to the unnatural mothers of Zion : Even the 

 sea monsters draw out the breast t they give suck to their 



