AVES—OSTRICH. 613 
action of the juices uf the stomach upon their surface. A quarter pistole, 
which was swallowed by a duck, lost seven grains of its weight in the 
gizzard before it was voided ; and it is probable that a still greater diminu- 
tion of weight would happen in the stomach of an ostrich. Considered in 
this light, therefore, this animal may be said to digest iron; but such sub- 
stances seldom remain long enough in the stomach of any animal to undergo 
so tedious a dissolution. The ostrich lays very large eggs, some of them 
bemg above five inches in diameter, and weighing above five pounds. 
These eggs have a very hard shell, somewhat resembling those of the 
crocodile, except that those of the latter are less and rounder. It is a curi+ 
ous fact, that these eggs often contain a number of small, exceedingly hard 
oval-shaped pebbles, about the size of a marrowfat pea, and of a yellow 
color. ‘They are sometimes set, and used as buttons. 
The season for laying depends upon the climate; in the northern parts of 
Africa itis about the beginning of July; in the south, it is about the latter 
end of December. These birds are very prolific, and lay generally from 
thirty to forty eggs in a season, and aBout twelve at one clutch. It has been 
commonly reported that the female deposits them in the sand; and, covering 
them up, leaves them to be hatched by the heat of the climate, and then 
permits the young to shift for themselves. Very little of this however is 
true; no bird has a stronger affection for her young than the ostrich, and 
none watches her eggs with greater assiduity. It happens, indeed, in those 
hot climates, that there is less necessity for the continual incubation of the 
female; and she more frequently leaves her eggs, which are in no fear of 
being chilled by the weather: but though she sometimes forsakes them by day, 
she always carefully broods over thei by night; nor is it more true that they 
forsake their young after they are excluded from the shell. On the contrary, the 
young ones are not even able to walk for several days after they are hatched. 
During this time, the old ones are very assiduous in supplying them with 
grass, and very careful to defend them from danger; nay, they encounter 
every danger in their defence. 
The strength and size of the ostrich has suggested to men the experiment 
of using them as animals of burthen. The tyrant Firmius, who reigned in 
Egypt about the end of the third century, was frequently carried by large 
ostriches. Moore, an English traveller, relates that he had seen at Joar, 
in Africa, a man travelling on an ostrich. And Vallisnieri speaks of a 
young man, who exhibited himself upon one of these birds at Venice. 
In fine, M. Adanson saw, at the factory at Podor, two ostriches, which 
were yet young, of which the stronger went at apace which would have 
distanced the fleetest English racehorse, with two negroes on its back. 
Whether this bird could be broken and tamed so as to carry its rider with 
the same safety and docility as a horse, is a different question; and, let it be 
remembered that, though the ostriches above-mentioned ran for a short time 
52 
