CLASS AVES. 



ORDER GRALLATORIA. 



making her way to the high mountains in the neighbourhood, towered 

 almost perpendicularly at once, as if to get its sight free from all obstacles. 

 Bochart, in his Hierozoicon, gives a similar account. 



Maillet, in his Description de F Egypt, mentions the circumstance of a 

 Pigeon despatched from Aleppo to Scanderoon, which mistook its way, 

 and being absent three days, " had in that time made an excursion to the 

 island of Ceylon ; a circumstance then deduced from finding green cloves in 

 the bird's stomach." 



Formerly when the execution of criminals took place at Tyburn, it was 

 customary to let Carrier Pigeons loose to inform their friends of the moment 

 at which the culprit was turned off; and Hogarth has made use of this 

 incident in the last picture but one of his Industry and Idleness, in which 

 Thomas Idle finishes his career. 



The Dragoon Pigeon, or Dragon, as it is usually called, a cross-breed 

 between the Carrier and Horseman Pigeon, has the same inclination to 

 return home ; and has been known to come from Bury to London in two 

 hours and a half. 



VINAGO. But few of the African species of this genus are known ; they 

 are inhabitants of extensive woods ; they subsist on fruit ; and their plumage 

 is generally vivid green, variegated with bright yellow. 



The Wdalia Pigeon (V. Abyssinia) is eleven inches long; general 

 colour of the plumage green ; the belly of a bright yellow ; bill bluish 

 white; irides dark orange; toes red. It inhabits the lower parts of 

 Abyssinia in large flocks, being found, according to Mr. Salt, among 

 the Daro trees near a stream. 



The Bald-fronted Pigeon (Plate 10) is another species of this genus. 



ORDER V. GRALLATORIA. WADERS. 



THE individuals forming this Order are generally distinguished by part of 

 the tibia being naked, and by the elongation of the tarsi. The external 

 toe is commonly united to the middle one at the base by a short mem- 

 brane, and in some of the genera the thumb is altogether wanting. They 

 are also called Shore-birds as well as Waders. 



Family SHORT-WINGED ; Brevipennata. 



The wings of the Brevipennata are so short as to render them incapable 

 of flight. The beak and regimen connect them with Gallinacea. 



ILLUSTRATIVE EXAMPLES. 



PLATE 11. 

 Genera. Species. Common Name. 



Struthio Camelus Ostrich. 



Rhea ------ Americana - - - Nandu. 



Casuarius ----- Galeatus ----- Cassowary. 



Dromaius ... - Ater ------ Emeu. 



CHARACTERS OF THE GENERA. 



1. STRUTHIO (Gr. irrpovOoy). Beak of moderate size, obtuse, depressed, 

 and rounded at the tip ; mandibles of equal length, weak and flexible ; 

 tongue short, thick, and slightly bifid at the tip ; nostrils oblong and open 

 near the middle of the beak ; eyes large, their lids furnished with lashes ; 

 wings unfit for flight, armed with two spines or barbless shafts, and covered 

 with long, soft, flexible feathers instead of quills ; legs very long and stout, 

 furnished with two toes in front, of which the outer is nailless, and half the 

 length of the inner, which is large and furnished with a thick, oblong, hoof- 

 like nail ; upon the chest and belly are large callous patches, and upon the 

 knees smaller ones of the same kind. 



2. RHEA; 3. CASUARIUS; 4. DROMAIUS. 



The characters distinguishing these genera from the Ostrich may be thus 

 briefly enumerated : the Nandu (Rhea), which is most nearly allied to the 

 Ostrich, is little more than half its size ; the barbs of its feathers are less 

 full ; it has only one very short spur to the wing, but it has three toes all 

 furnished with thick nails : the Cassowary ( Casuarius), also much smaller, 

 has a remarkable bony casque or protuberance upon the front of the skull, 

 has wattles upon the neck, has five barbless shafts to each wing, which are 



so small as scarcely to be noticed, has not any tail-quills, lias the barbs of all 

 the feathers so short as to give the appearance of the whole body being 

 covered with coarse hair, and has three toes to each foot : the Emeu 

 (Dromaius) almost equals the Ostrich in size ; its plumage nearly re- 

 sembles that of the Cassowary, and like it the feet are thru -toed, but the 

 wings are mere rudiments, scarcely six inches in. length, have not any spur, 

 and are covered with the hair-like plumage of the body. Each of the>e 

 genera have their peculiar station ; for whilst the Ostrich is spread over 

 Arabia and the greater part of Africa, the Nandu is found only in South 

 America, the Cassowary in India, and the Emeu in Australia; thus, as it 

 were, giving a representative of this remarkable family to each of these large 

 districts of the earth. 



BREVIPENNATA. DESCRIPTION OF THE SPECIES. 



STRUTHIO (Camellus) Ostrich is generally from seven to eight feet in 

 height; beak horn-coloured, blackening towards its lip; openings of the ean 

 hairy ; the head, excepting its top, which is bare, and neck, which is slender, 

 is covered sparingly with whitish coarse down, so that the colour of the .-kin 

 is visible through it: in the male the lower part of the neck and the whole 

 body are covered with the deepest black intermingled with whitish leathers, 

 but in the female they are all brownish-grey; in both sexes the-e leathers 

 are loose,which give the bird an elegant appearance ; and instead of wing- 

 feathers, they have long, loose, undulating, snowy-white plumes, several of 

 them with black edges or tips, and similar plumes occupy the place of the 

 caudal quills ; the lower limbs are featherless, and covered only with down. 

 The strong legs are covered with tough reticulated skin-like scales ; the 

 inner toe is very large, tipped with a strong hoof-like nail, and connected by 

 a stout membrane to the outer. The Ostrich is more especially a native of 

 the sandy deserts of Arabia and Africa, and is very common near the Cape 

 of Good Hope. It pastures in large groups upon open plains, and very 

 commonly with Quaggas ; it feeds upon grass, seeds, fruit, and occasionally 

 also upon eggs and worms ; it also greedily swallows stones and pieces of 

 metal, which are necessary for the breaking up of its food in the gizzard, 

 and without which it could not be properly nourished. Cuvier mentions 

 that the weight of stones, iron, and cop] XT, which he found in the stomach 

 of an Ostrich that died in the Garden of Plants, at Paris, amounted to a 

 pound, which, however, is no great matter in comparison to the bulk of an 

 animal, whose weight exceeds three hundred pounds. They move in a 

 stately manner and are soon out of sight, although their pace seems little 

 more than walking, but when put to speed they would easily outstrip the 

 swiftest horses, saving their disposition to run hi circles of greater or 1. ss 

 extent When running they spread their wings, not however for the pur- 

 pose of flight, but as balances to prevent their toppling on one side. Their 

 disposition is very mild, and they rarely act on the offensive, soon become 

 tame after capture, and allow themselves to be rode without danger. 



The nest of the Ostrich is, according to Burchall's account, a bare cavity- 

 scratched in the sand, six feet in diameter, surrounded by a trench equally 

 shallow, and without the smallest trace of any materials, such as L 

 leaves, or sticks, to give it a resemblance to the nests of other birds. \Yithin 

 the hollow are laid from twenty to thirty eggs (Lc Vaillant, however, says, 

 generally ten), and in the surrounding trench some others intended as the 

 first food for the young which are hatched from the eggs in the central 

 hollow. This curious provision was first noticed by Le Vaillant, and alt. r 

 him by De Bougainville. When first mentioned it was doubted, but other 

 travellers have since confirmed the assertion. 



The eggs are large and heavy, containing, according to Burchall, about 

 twenty-four times as much as our common hen's eggs, and ireighing about 

 three pounds; the shells are very hard, and of a dingy white tinjj.. -d with 

 yellow. The time of year at which the Ostrich lays, and the length of 

 time she sits, are alike unknown ; but the well-known fact that in the same 

 district, and at the same time, there are Ostriches laying e^s, young ones 

 of two or three months old, and some as large as the parent bird, is no 

 proof against there being a regular breeding-time, an.l < ,m .^a-ily !* ex- 

 plained bv the animal laving a^iin and nipun it her eggs be Abstracted as 



