CHAPTER VIII 



THE OSTRICHES 



(Order Struthioniformes) 



T is perhaps needless to say that the Ostriches are the largest of existing 

 "birds, a fully matured individual standing some eight feet in height and 

 weighing quite three hundred pounds. But aside from preponderat- 

 ing size and weight they are readily separable from all other birds by 

 the possession of a number of marked characters, the most important of which 

 is the fact that they alone have but two toes the third and fourth. They have 

 a short, broad, and somewhat flattened bill opening to under the eyes, with the 

 tip strong, rounded, and overtopping the lower mandible, while the oval nostrils 

 are placed in a membranous groove near the middle. The whole head is relatively 

 very small and the neck relatively very long, while the wings are short, imperfectly 

 developed, and provided with long, soft plumes, and the tail is also short and com- 

 posed of curved, drooping plumes; all feathers are without an aftershaft. The 

 legs are very strong and covered in front near the toes with transverse scales. 

 The toes are short but very thick and strong, and provided with short, stunted 

 nails, though that of the outer toe is commonly absent. Another character of 

 importance is that in the adult the head, neck, and legs are destitute of feathers. 

 Species. The question as to whether the Ostriches shall be regarded as 

 constituting a single species, or some three or four, is apparently still somewhat 

 an open one, some ornithologists recognizing but one, which, however, is divided 

 into several geographic races, while others would consider the differences suffi- 

 cient to rank them as separate species. Be this as it may, the differences are 

 but slight and the habits of the birds practically the same. Thus the Ostrich 

 (Struthio camelus), found in the Soudan, Arabia, and southern Palestine, has the 

 naked skin of the neck, head, and legs bright flesh-colored, and the eggs pro- 

 duced by this bird are smooth. In the birds inhabiting Somaliland (S. molyb- 

 dophanes], the skin of the naked portions is bluish gray in color, while the Ostrich 

 of South Africa (S. australis] has this skin lead-gray or even white-gray. In 

 both of these last-mentioned forms the egg-shells are provided with large, deep 

 pits of a dark purplish color. More recently the form inhabiting Masailand 

 (S. massaicus] has been separated. 



As might be presumed from their arge size and imposing presence, the 

 Ostrich, or Camel-bird, as it was often called, has attracted attention and interest 

 from very ancient times, a fact attested not only by monuments and inscriptions, 

 but by the abundant mention in the works of Aristotle, Pliny, Xenophon, and 



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