AND AMERICAN RURAL SPORTS. 



77 



in the trituration of its food. Its fondness for the metals, 

 in particular, was early remarked, and obtained for it the 

 epithet of the "iron-eating Ostrich." Popular credulity- 

 even went so far as to assign to it the power of digesting 

 these substances, and many are the allusions in our older 

 writers to this fancied property. As an amusing illustra- 

 tion of the prevalence of this belief, we may quote the fol- 

 lowing characteristic lines from "The Boke of Philip 

 Sparow," written by Master John Skelton, a laurelled poet 

 of the reign of King Henry the Eighth: 



The Estridge thai will eate 

 An horshowe so greate 

 lu the sleade of meat 

 Such fervent heat 

 His stoinake dolh freat. 



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 dis- 

 posed of articles. It would, however, be perfectly ridiculous 

 to imagine that the stomach of this bird is capable of digest- 

 ing 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 iovij, 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 tole- 

 rable 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 Valliant, 

 whose authority is decidedly entitled to the highest respect 

 on every subject connected with the habits of birds, which 

 he studied in a state of nature with the scrutinizing eye 

 of a philosopher, and the patient zeal of a scientific observer. 

 U 



He relates, however, a circumstance which once fell under 

 his own observation, and which tends in some measure to 

 reconcile these discordant statements, while at the same 

 time it renders it questionable whether the Ostrich is not, 

 occasionally, at least, polygamous. Having disturbed a 

 female from a nest containing thirty-eight eggs of unequal 

 size, and having thirteen others scattered around it, he 

 concealed himself at a short distance, and observed, during 

 the day, no less than four females successively taking part 

 in the maternal office. Towards the close of the evening, 

 a male also took his share of the duty; and Le Vaillant 

 remarks, that he has frequently had opportunities of veri- 

 fying the fact, that the male bird sits as well as the female. 

 In this case it would appear probable that several females 

 had deposited their eggs in one common nest. The extra- 

 ordinary number of eggs said to have been sometimes found, 

 may also, perhaps, be accounted for by the fondness of the 

 natives for these delicacies, which they abstract from the 

 nest by means of a long stick, cautiously avoiding to intro- 

 duce their hands, which, they affirm, would infallibly drive 

 the bird to abandon the place. The Ostrich naturally con- 

 tinues laying in order to complete her usual number; and in 

 this way forty or fifty eggs may actually have been obtained 

 from a single female. 



Within the torrid zone the eggs are merely laid in the 

 warm sand, the female sometimes sitting upon them during 

 the night; but, in general, the rays of the sun are sufficiently 

 powerful to hatch them, without any assistance on her part. 

 She does not, however, as has been commonly stated, ne- 

 glect her offspring, but watches over them with as much 

 solicitude as any other bird, hovering around the spot in 

 which thej^are deposited, and if surprised in her occupation, 

 making a short circuit, and constantly returning to the 

 object of her care. This doubling kind of flight is regarded 

 by the hunters as a certain sign of the vicinity of her eggs, 

 as at all other times the Ostriches pursue, for a time at 

 least, a direct and straight forward course. In the more 

 temperate regions, and especially in the neighbourhood of 

 the Cape, the Ostrich sits like other birds, always choosing 

 the most retired and solitary places. Her nest consists 

 merely of a pit of about three feet in diameter dug in 

 the sand, which is thrown up around it so as to form an 

 elevated margin. At some little distance are usually placed, 

 each in a separate cavity in the sand, a number of rejected 

 eggs, which are said to be intended to serve as nutriment 

 for the young brood, as soon as hatched; a most remark- 

 able instance of foresight, if truly stated, but not yet con- 

 firmed beyond the possibility of doubt. 



The eggs are extremely hard, very weighty, and twenty 

 or thirty times as large as those of our common hen. The 

 colour of the shells is a dirty white, tinged with light 



