354 DR. SCLATER ON THE STRUTHIOUS BIRDS 
which the six known generic types of Struthiones may be distinguished from one 
another. 
Fam. I. STRUTHIONID A. 
Majores : rostro brevi, robusto: naribus basalibus : digito postico nullo. 
a. STRUTHIONIN#: plumis simplicibus, hyporrhachide obsoleta : alis plumosis. 
a. Pedibus didactylis . ae eae ee 1. Struthio. 
P- Pedibusitridactylis. o> cv ins) <a. vans) Ao ome oc) heen ees 
6, Casuarina: plumis duplicibus, hyporrhachide ipsam plumam fere zquante : 
jalis fere implumibus. 
a’. Capite nudo, galeato: digiti interioris ungue elongato 
valido 3. Casuarius. 
6’. Capite plumoso : digitorum unguibus brevibus 4. Dromeus. 
Fam. II. APTERYGIDA. 
Minores: rostro elongato: naribus apicalibus: plumis attenuatis, 
criniformibus, simplicibus: alis fere evanescentibus: digito postico 
brevi, ungue armato 5. Apterya. 
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. SrrutuHio. 
The Athiopian type of the Struthionide (the most perfect of the kind, as is the 
Kthiopian 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 Struthionide 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 Ist of November, 1861, three fine birds of the Southern Ostrich arrived at the Gardens, from the 
