662 OSSIFRAGE OSTRICH 



very tall tree, their fierceness in defence of their eggs and young 

 is not to be despised. Men and boys have had their head gashed 

 by the sharp claw of the angry parent, and this, happening when 

 the robber is already in a precarious predicament and unable to 

 use any defensive weapon, renders the enterprise formidable. But 

 the prize is worthy of the danger. Few birds lay eggs so beautiful 

 or so rich in colouring : their white or pale ground is spotted, 

 blotched or marbled with almost every shade of purple, orange 

 and red passing from the most delicate lilac, buff and peach- 

 blossom, through violet, chestnut and crimson, to a nearly absolute 

 black. A few years ago some of the best-informed ornithologists 

 were led to think that persecution had extirpated the Osprey in 

 Great Britain, except as a chance visitant. This opinion proved to 

 be incorrect, and at the present time the bird is believed still to 

 breed in at least two counties of Scotland, but the secret of its 

 resorts should be carefully guarded by those who wish to retain it 

 as a member of the country's fauna, for indiscreet publication would 

 endanger its occupancy. 



OSSIFKAGE, see OSPREY. 



OSTEICH (Old English, Estridge ; French, Autruche; Spanish, 

 Avestruz-, Latin, Avis struthio). Among exotic birds there can 

 be hardly one better known by report than the strange, majestic 

 and fleet-footed creature that " scorneth the horse and his rider," 

 or one that from the earliest times to the present has been oftener 

 more or less fully described ; and there must be few persons in any 

 civilized country unacquainted with the appearance of this, the 

 largest of living birds, whose size is not insignificant in comparison 

 even with the mightiest of the plumed giants that of old existed 

 upon the earth, since an adult male will stand nearly 8 feet in 

 height, and weigh 300 pounds. 



As to the ways of the Ostrich in a state of nature, not much has 

 been added of late years to the knowledge acquired and imparted 

 by former travellers and naturalists, many of whom enjoyed oppor- 

 tunities that will never again occur of discovering its peculiarities, 

 for even the most favourably-placed of their successors in recent 

 years seem to content themselves with repeating the older observa- 

 tions, and to want either leisure or patience to make additions 

 thereto, their personal acquaintance with the bird not amounting to 

 more than such casual meetings with it as must inevitably fall to 

 the lot of those who traverse its haunts. Thus there are still 

 several dubious points in its natural history. On the other hand we 

 unquestionably know far more than our predecessors respecting its 

 geographical distribution, which has been traced with great minute- 

 ness in the Fogel Ost-Afrikas of Drs. Finsch and Hartlaub, who have 

 therein given (pp. 597-607) the most comprehensive account of the 



