54 ZOOLOGICAL GARDENS. 



We know not if the Ostriches of these days are 

 given to the eating of horseshoes ; but unquestionably 

 they have a particular fancy for keys, nails, and other 

 such easily disposed of articles. It would, however, be 

 perfectly ridiculous to imagine that the stomach of this 

 bird is capable of digesting metals and converting them 

 into food, although it is undoubtedly true that after 

 having lain in that organ for a length of time they 

 become corroded by its juices. M. Cuvier found in 

 the stomach of an individual that died in the Paris 

 Menagerie nearly a pound weight of stones, bits of 

 iron and copper, and pieces of money, worn down by 

 constant attrition against each other as well as by the 

 action of the stomach itself. The human stomach, we 

 may add, is equally capable of a similar exertion, 

 although not so frequently called upon to put it to the 

 test. Many of our readers will no doubt recollect the 

 case of an American sailor who died in one of the 

 London hospitals in 1809, and who had swallowed in 

 the ten previous years no fewer than thirty-five clasp- 

 knives. Fragments of these, to the number of between 

 thirty and forty, thirteen or fourteen of them being 

 evidently blades, were found in his stomach after death. 

 "Some of these," says Dr. Marcet in his account of 

 the case, " were remarkably corroded and reduced in 

 size, while others were comparatively in a tolerable 

 state of preservation." More than one instance of a 

 similar description has since been put on record. 



Although the Ostriches live together in large herds, 

 the received opinion among naturalists is that the males 

 attach themselves to a single female. There is some 

 difficulty in determining the number of eggs laid by the 

 latter; some travellers estimating it as high as eighty, 

 while others reduce it to ten. Of this latter opinion 

 was Le Vaillant, whose authority is decidedly entitled 

 to the highest respect on every subject connected with 



