THE ZooLocist—Decemser, 1876, 5173 
| Hotices of Hey Books, 
_ 
Ostriches and Ostrich Farming. By Juutvs ve MOoseENTHAL, 
Consul-General of the South-African Republics for France, 
late Member of the Legislative Council of the Cape of Good 
Hope, &c., &c.; and James Epmunp Harrtine, F.LS., 
F.Z.S., Member of the British Ornithologists’ Union, &c., &e. 
With Illustrations. Triibner & Co. 246 pp. 
ALTHOUGH the name of M. de Mosenthal stands first as joint- 
author with Mr, Harting of this book on ostriches, we find only 
some fifty pages at the end of it, and these descriptive of the 
growth and present condition of ostrich farming, as coming from 
his pen; the first and larger portion of it, consisting of a mono- 
graph of the existing Struthious birds, has been industriously 
prepared from a great number of sources by Mr. Harting. Besides 
the ostrich, the American rheas, the cassowaries, the emus, and 
the curious apteryx of New Zealand belong to this family of 
ancient type, numerous representatives of which have only recently 
become extinct. These birds differ from all others in having no 
keel to the sternum, and, in consequence, are either wingless or 
have only rudimentary wings, and progress by running only. The 
leg of the ostrich is described as a wonderful piece of mechanism, 
capable of propelling the bird forward like a catapult. The 
ostrich is said to cover twenty-eight feet in its stride, and to be 
able to run at the rate of twenty-six miles an hour. The casso- 
waries are the best known members of the Struthionide: nine 
species are described, four of which come from the little- 
investigated island of New Guinea, where probably there remain 
more species yet to be detected. The use of the singular bony 
helmet and of the powerful elongated nail with which the inner 
toe is furnished, in these singular birds, can only be guessed at, as 
there have been few opportunities of examining them in their wild 
State. The Struthious birds are very similar in their habits, being 
for the most part hardy and able to bear vicissitudes of climate ; 
most of them have bred in confinement in England, and they 
are easily domesticated. With all of them the male bird takes a 
SECOND SERIES—VOL. XI. 3.1L 
