286 THE OSTRICH. 



Jerdon, speaking of the Indian Bustard (Eupodotis 

 Edwardsii), says, "they will often swallow pebbles or 

 any glittering object that attracts them. I took several 

 portions of a brass ornament, the size of a No. 16 bullet, 

 out of the stomach of one bustard."* 



In reply to Hotspur's inquiries for " The madcap 

 Prince of Wales," and his comrades, at the rebel camp 

 near Shrewsbury, he is told that they are 



" All furnish'd, all in arms ; 

 All plum'd like estridges that with the wind 

 Bated ; like eagles having lately bath'd."-f- 



Henry IV. Part I. Act iv. Sc. i. 



Looking to the antiquity of the fable of the Pelican's 

 feeding her young with her own blood, it is not surprising 

 that Shakespeare has alluded to it when mentioning this 

 bird. Laertes says : — 



" To his good friends thus wide I '11 ope my arms ; 

 And, like the kind life-rendering pelican, 

 Repast them with my blood." 



Hamlet, Act iv. Sc. 5. 



* " The Birds of India," iii. p. 610. 

 j Some editions read — 



"All plum'd like estridges that wing the wind ; 

 Bated like eagles having lately bath'd." 



But we have adopted the above reading in preference for three reasons : i. Con- 

 sidering the rudimentary nature of the ostrich's wing, Shakespeare would not have 

 been so incorrect as to describe them as "winging the wind; " -z. The word 

 "bated," if intended to refer to eagles, and not to ostriches,' would have been 

 more correctly "bating;" 3. The expression, "to bate with the wind, 1 ' is well 

 understood in the language of falconry, with which Shakespeare was familiar. 



