I 



The Zoologist— December, 1876. 5173 



fata of lftj» goofts. 



Ostriches and Ostrich Farming. By Julius de Mosenthal, 

 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 Edmund Harting, F.LS, 

 F.Z S Member of the British Ornithologists' Union, &c, &c. 

 U ith 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 farmiug, 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 bv 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 Struthionida; : 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 L 



