OE ANIMALS WITH BLOOD. 249 



number of young ones. Aristotle's view on this question is 

 quite different. He explains the habit by saying that 

 cuckoos are very timid birds and cannot defend their young, 

 but place them under the protection of other birds.* 



He gives information about two birds, which he probably 

 never saw, viz., PsittaJce (the parrot) and Strouthos Lihykos 

 (the ostrich). 



He says that Psittake is an Indian bird, which is said to 

 have a tongue like that of a man, and that it talks most when 

 intoxicated.! 



The ostrich, he says, has some of the characters of a bird, 

 e.g., it has wings, feathers, and two legs, and some of the 

 characters of a quadruped, e.g., it has cloven feet with 

 hoofs, " hair-like feathers " which are useless for flight, and 

 upper eyelashes, t 



Pliny calls the ostrich Strutliio-camelus, and a popular 

 belief in the " bird-quadruped " nature of the ostrich has 

 been very persistent, and is said to exist in Arabia. The 

 ostrich has two toes on each foot, an inner very large one 

 with lateral expansions and a nail, quite unlike a hoof, and 

 an outer small toe which is often without a nail. It has 

 both upper and lower eyelashes, composed of hair-like 

 feathers. 



Aristotle also states that the ostrich lays many eggs,§ 

 and does not seem to have knov^n that several hens lay in 

 one nest. 



- H. A. ix. c. 20, s. 3. \ Ibid. viii. c. 14, s. 6. 



I P. A. iv. c. 13, 6976. § H. A. ix. c. 16, s. 1 ; G. A. iii. c. 1, 7496. 



