354 DR. SCLATER ON THE STRUTHIOUS BIRDS 



which the six known generic types of Struthiones noay be distinguished from one 

 another. 



Fam. I. STRUTHIONID^. 

 Majores : rostro brevi, robusto : naribus basahbus : digito postico nuUo. 



a. SxRUTHioNiNiE : plumis simpUcibus, hyporrhachidc obsolcta : alis plumosis. 



a. Pedibus didactylis 1. Struthio. 



/3. Pedibus tridactylis 2. Rhea. 



b. CasuariinjE : plumis duplicibus, hyporrhachide ipsam plumam fere sequante : 

 ,alis fere implumibus. 



a'. Capite nudo, galeato : digiti interioris ungue elongato 



vaHdo 3. Casuarius. 



/3'. Capite plumoso : digitorum unguibus brevibus .... 4. DronuBus. 



Fam. II. APTERYGID^. 



Minores : rostro elongato : naribus apicalibus : plumis attenuatis, 

 criniformibus, simplicibus : alis fere evanescentibus : digito postico 

 brevi, ungue armato .t- Apteryx. 



Taking these genera in order, I now proceed to give some account of the various 

 species which compose them. As my notes are taken from living birds, it is obviously 

 impossible to attempt to found accurate diagnoses of the species upon them. 



I. Struthio. 



The .(Ethiopian type of the Struthionidce (the most perfect of the kind, as is the 



Ethiopian type of the Anthropoid Apes) requires our first attention. I have long 



suspected that the Ostrich of Southern Africa, when closely compared with the bird 



of the Sahara, will turn out to be a different species, and I know that many other 



naturalists share my views. The eggs, as Mr. Bartlett has shown, when exhibiting his 



fine series of the eggs of Struthionidcs before the Society', seem to present well-marked 



differences. That attributed to the Southern bird is smaller and very much smoother 



and less deeply pitted, the granulations in some specimens being nearly evanescent. 



But I have reason to believe that the Southern bird is the larger in size. Through the 



unfortunate loss of both the young Ostriches presented to the Society by Sir George 



Grey last summer, we have missed the opportunity which we should otherwise have 



had of comparing them with the noble examples of the Northern bird which grace our 



Menagerie.; but as Sir George Grey, who is now returning to the Cape Colony, has 



promised to obtain for us other adult examples, there is every reason to believe that we 



shall ere long be able to make the desired comparisons^. 



^ See Proc. Zool. Soc. 1860, p. 205. 



^ On the 1st of November, 1861, three fine birds of the Southern Ostrich arrived at the Gardens, from the 



