198 CURIOUS CREATURES. 



both the male and female are excellent, and model 

 parents. 



Pliny, however, says differently : " This bird exceeds 

 in height a man sitting on horseback, and can surpass 

 him in swiftness, as wings have been given to aid it 

 in running; in other respects Ostriches cannot be con- 

 sidered as birds, and do not raise themselves from the 

 earth. They have cloven talons, very similar to the hoof 

 of the stag (they have but two toes) ; with these they fight, 

 and they also employ them in seizing stones for the 

 purpose of throwing at those who pursue them. They 

 have the marvellous property of being able to digest 

 every substance without distinction, but their stupidity 

 is no less remarkable : for although the rest of their 

 body is so large, they imagine when they have thrust 

 their head and neck into a bush, that the whole body is 

 concealed." 



Giovanni Leone Africano writes that " this fowle liveth 

 in drie desarts and layeth to the number of ten or twelve 

 egges in the sand, which being about the bignesse of great 

 bullets weigh fifteen pounds a piece ; but the ostrich is 

 of so weak a memorie, that she presently forgetteth the 

 place where her egges were laid, and, afterwards the 

 same, or some other ostrich hen finding the said eggs by 

 chance hatched and fostereth them as if they were cer- 

 tainely her owne. The chickens are no sooner crept out 

 of the shell but they prowle up and downe the desarts 

 for their food, and before theyr feathers be growne they 

 are so swifte that a man shall hardly overtake them. 

 The ostrich is a silly and deafe creature, feeding upon 

 any thing which it findeth, be it as hard and indigestible 

 as yron." 



