558 FLIGHTLESS BIRDS. 



measured 4 feet 10 inches in height at the back, and had a total length of 4 feet 

 3 inches. Ordinary examples of the same sex reach only about 3 feet 8 inches 

 in height. 

 Distribution and Although now confined to Africa, Syria. Arabia, and Mesopotamia, 



Habits. an d becoming every year scarcer in the three last - mentioned 

 countries, there is a probability that ostriches formerly existed within the historic 

 period, in parts of Central Asia and possibly in Baluchistan, since there are several 

 allusions to birds which can scarcely be anything else than ostriches in various 

 ancient writings. Quite apart, however, from this, the evidence of its fossilised 

 remains shows that an extinct species of ostrich, nearly allied to the existing kind, 

 inhabited North- Western India during the Pliocene period; and a petrified egg 

 from the province of Cherson in Russia, points to the former existence of these 

 birds in that country. Originally it is probable that the ostrich ranged in suitable 

 localities from Senegambia in the w r est, through Southern Morocco, Algeria, and 

 Egypt, to Arabia, Syria, and Mesopotamia in the east ; while in the other direction 

 it extended from Algeria through Central and Eastern Africa. Being, however, 

 essentially a bird of open, sandy districts, there are many regions in Africa, such as 

 the neighbourhood of Zanzibar and large tracts on the west coast and in the Congo 

 Valley, where, owing to the prevalence of forest, the ostrich never existed. More- 

 over, the constant persecution with which these birds have been harassed for years, 

 on account of their beautiful plumes, has led to their almost complete disappearance 

 from Egypt and Nubia, and they are now seldom found to the north of latitude 17. 

 The ostrich has also disappeared from large tracts in South Africa, although still to 

 be met with in small parties in the great Kalahari Desert, and especially in the 

 part lying to the southward of Lake Ngami. It is likewise still fairly common on 

 the borders of Namaqualand and Damaraland, the great Mabebi flats, and certain 

 parts of Matabililand and Mashonaland, where it is sometimes seen in large flocks. 



Always inhabiting more or less desert-like districts, or flats covered with 

 stunted patches of bush, where the elevated position of their head gives them a 

 wide field of vision, ostriches in South Africa generally associate in parties of from 

 ten to twenty individuals, although in the northern parts of the continent the 

 flocks are stated to be smaller. In Southern Africa they frequently associate with 

 herds of wildebeest and hartebeest ; and their keen sight and wary nature, coupled 

 with their unrivalled speed, render them almost the most difficult of all animals to 

 capture. Outstripping the swiftest African antelopes in speed, the ostrich, in cool 

 weather, could indeed easily escape from any horseman, were it not for its foolish 

 habit of running in a circle, and thus allowing shots to be easily obtained. In 

 running at speed the ostrich spreads its wings, and the distances it can traverse 

 are enormous ; indeed, during the daytime it is continually on the move. In 

 the neighbourhood of the sea or lakes ostriches are reported to be in the habit 

 of bathing during the hot season, when parties have been seen standing up to their 

 necks in water ; and salt of some kind seems absolutely essential to their existence. 



The digestion of an ostrich is proverbial ; and while in their general diet these 

 birds are practically omnivorous, they are likewise in the habit of swallowing 

 stones, sand, bones, or even pieces of metal, to aid in the trituration of their food. 

 In captivity this habit probably becomes abnormally developed ; and there are 



