226 NATURAL IIISTORY. 



eyes are large, and are protected by well-developed and stiff eyelashes. The legs are extremely stout, 

 and no hind toe is ever represented. The Ostriches may be further divided into two sub- 

 families. 



THE FIRST SUB-FAMILY OF THE STRUTHIONID^. THE OSTRICHES (Struthiomtite}. 



The principal character which distinguishes the Ostriches from the Cassowaries is the absence of 

 a second feather or highly-enlarged after-shaft,* which in the latter birds is as long as the feather 

 itself, and forms a second plume. The wings, too, ai*e feathered, the plumes being large and tolerably 

 long, while the tail feathers are small and not greatly developed. The two genera belonging to this 

 sub-family are Struthio and Rhea, the former containing the African Ostrich (Struthio camelus), the 

 latter the Rheas of South America, of which there are three species. 



THE OSTRICH (Struthio camelus). 



Interesting as the natural history of the Ostrich has been from time immemorial, regarded 

 as one of the birds mentioned by the most ancient writers, it is doubtful whether the latest phase 

 of the history of the Ostrich, viz., its domestication in "Ostrich Farms," will not prove of greater 

 impoi-tance to mankind than its existence in a state of nature. To Mr. Julius de Mosenthal's 

 book on "Ostrich Farming," and the monograph on the "Struthious Birds" by Mr. J. E. Harting, 

 the author is indebted for the following statements condensed from these works : The Ostrich, 

 although it seems in ancient times to have extended to India and Central Asia, is not known 

 to inhabit those countries in the present day, but within the Christian era eggs of this bird, and 

 even some living examples, were brought to China from Turkestan and Central Asia, and the King of 

 Samarkand is mentioned as having paid a tribute of Ostriches' eggs to China in the year A.D. 605. 

 Remains of the species have been found in the Sewalik Hills, in North Western India, along with 

 those of the Camel and the Giraffe, but it is doubtful whether the Ostrich ever extended into India 

 within historic times, as no mention is made of it in Sanskrit literature, while the bird is not alluded 

 to during the celebrated march of Alexander the Great through Asia ; at the same time, Mr. Surtees, 

 who resided for some years in Sindh, is stated by his friend, Canon Tristram, to have heard of many 

 traditions pointing to a former existence of the Ostrich in that country. In Syria, Arabia, and Meso- 

 potamia, it seems to have been known from time immemorial, and Sir Henry Layard informs us that 

 Ostrich feathers appear as ornaments 011 the robes of the figures in the oldest sculptures of Nimrod, 

 together with the emblematic flower, and frequently occur on the Babylonian and Assyrian cylinders, 

 from which we may conclude that the Ostrich was a sacred bird. It is frequently mentioned in Scrip- 

 ture, where, however, according to Canon Tristram, the Hebrew word is often rendered as "Owl." 

 Some of the references to the habits of the bird are true to nature, and others are based on popular 

 beliefs which hold even to this day among Orientals. "It is the hoarse complaining cry by night," 

 writes Canon Tristram, " to which Job compares his own sorrowing lamentations under the visitation 

 of God. The same simile occurs in Micah i. 8 : 'I will wail and howl, I will go stripped and naked: 

 I will make a wailing like the dragons, and mourning as the ostriches ' [owls, marg.]. In the reply 

 of the Lord to Job, the habits of the Ostrich are thus set forth : ' Gavest thou the goodly wings unto 

 the Peacocks'? or wings and feathers unto the Ostrich, which leaveth her eggs in the earth, and 

 warmeth them in dust, and forgetteth that the foot may crush them, or that the wild beast may break 

 them 1 She is hardened against her young ones, as though they were not hers : her labour is in vain 

 without fear ; because God hath deprived her of wisdom, neither hath he imparted to her Understand- 

 ing. What time she lifteth up herself on high, she scorneth the horse and his rider.' Job xxxix. 

 13 18. Here we find mention made of the beauty of its plumes, of its habit of leaving its eggs on 

 4 he surface, of hatching them in the heat of the sand, of its desertion of its young, of its reputed 

 stupidity, and of its extraordinary fleetness." 



Xenophon, in his " Anabasis," mentions the occurrence of Ostriches in the plains of Artemisia, 

 on the left bank of the Euphrates, in the neighbourhood of Thapsacus, biit according to Olivier, who 

 travelled there towai-ds the close of the last century, they are no longer found there ; but they are 

 killed every year not far from Damascus, and they ai-e still hunted in many parts of Arabia, though 



* See Vol. III., p. 238. 



