173



THE


Avicultural Magazine,


BEING THE JOURNAL OF

THE AVICULTURAL SOCIETY.



Third Series. — Yol. IX.—No. 6 . — All rights reserved. APRIL, 1918.



OSTRICHES,


By J. K. Butter, M.D.


The Ostrich is by far the largest and most powerful of all

living fowl, Northern, Central, and Southern Africa being the home

of this most striking and handsome bird. There are at least two

species of Ostrich generally found in the Africau Continent, the

Sudanese and the Somali Ostrich. The latter bird has a bluish hue on

the neck and reddish legs, in the former the neck and legs are of a

whitish-grey colour. The Ostrich has its toes reduced to two ; the

outer one is much the smaller. The cock bird is much taller than the

hen, standing well over 8 ft. high, and when running at speed cover¬

ing 25 ft. at a stride. You get another form in South America, the

Rhea, and the Emu in Australia. I have had the pleasure of keeping

all the three kinds together. You also get the Cassowary in Ceram

and New Guinea, a most striking bird, with a horny helmet and a

brilliantly coloured neck. The Ostrich, Rhea, Emu, and Cassowary

are all flightless birds. My Ostriches were all Sudanese. The adult

cock that I possessed had black feathers covering his body, except

the upper parts of the thighs, which were almost devoid of any

covering. His neck and legs were of a whitish-grey colour and

almost naked, including the thighs. His wing and tail feathers were

large and beautiful, and all of them were white. His name was

Napoleon ; he was mated to an adult hen of the name of Minnehaha.

She was not so tall as her consort, and she had feathers of a beautiful


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