340 VERTEBRATA. AVES. 



so near to the Camel, as to have been called hy wide- 

 ly separated nations the Camel-bird. The wings are 

 so short as to be perfectly useless as organs of flight ; 

 on the other hand, the two legs and feet are large, 

 muscular, and powerful ; unfeathered, and terminated 

 by two hoof-like toes, resembling the cleft foot of 

 the Camel ; there are callosities on the breast and 

 abdomen, on which it rests, in the manner of that 

 quadruped ; internally, the breast-bone has no ridge, 

 but is flat, like that of a beast; the stomach and 

 intestines are similar to those of a Ruminant, and 

 other resemblances exist, into which, in a work like 

 the present, we cannot enter. 



This description, however, applies in its full force 

 only to the African Ostrich (S. Camelus), so celebrated 

 from the earliest antiquity. It is scattered over 

 the Continent from Arabia, which, in its geographical 

 peculiarities, may be almost regarded as an African 

 Peninsula, to the Cape of Good Hope, inhabiting 

 the sandy deserts of the north, and the parched plains 

 of the south, across which its extreme velocity well 

 adapts it for running. Adanson, in his Voyage to 

 Senegal, mentions two tame Ostriches, which, he 

 says, " were so tame that two little blacks mounted 

 both together on the back of the largest ; no sooner 

 did he feel their weight, than he began to run as fast 

 as ever he could, till he carried them several times 

 round the village ; and it was impossible to stop him 

 otherwise than by obstructing the passage. This 

 sight pleased me so well, that I would have it repeat- 

 ed ; and, to try their strength, I made a full-grown 



