THE OSTRICH. 



Description, &c. 



seven to nine feet from the top of the head to 

 the ground : from the back, however, it seldom 

 exceeds more than three or four feet, the rest of 

 its height being made up by its extremely long 

 neck. The head is small; and, as well as the 

 greater part of the neck, is covered with only a 

 few scattered hairs. The feathers of the body 

 are black and loose ; those of the wings and tail 

 are of a snowy white, waved and long, having 

 here artd there a tip of black. The wings are 

 furnished with spurs, somewhat like a porcu- 

 pine's quills. The thighs and flanks are nak- 

 ed ; and the feet are strong, and of a grey-brown 

 colour. 



The sandy and burning deserts of Africa and 

 Asia are the only native residences of these ani- 

 mals. Here they are seen in flocks, so large as 

 sometimes to have been mistaken for distant 

 cavalry. 



There are many circumstances in the economy 

 of this animal which show it to be peculiarly dif- 

 ferent from the rest of the feathered race. Its 

 strong-jointed legs and feet are well adapted both 

 for speed and defence. The wings and all its 

 feathers are insufficient to raise it from the 

 ground : its camel-shaped neck is covered with 

 hair: its voice is a kind of hollow mournful low- 

 ing: and it grazes on the plain with the qua-cha 

 and zebra. 



These birds frequently do great damage to the 



