RUNNERS. 



287 



two toes on a foot, both turned forward ; and its wings, being short, 

 rather serve for sails than for flight, so that the movement of thif 

 bird at full speed has more the appearance of sailing than running. 

 It is the tallest of birds, being seven or eight feet feet high when 

 it stands erect. Its neck is about four or five spans in length, 

 Assisted by its wings the swiftest horse is unable to overtake it. 



The ostrich is peculiarly valuable on account -A its feathers, 

 which are used as ornaments for hats, beds, and canopies. Of the 

 purest white, they are 

 used by those who fre- 

 quent the courts of 

 princes ; and dyed black 

 as jet, they are em- 

 ployed to decorate 

 hearses and horses in 

 the funeral processions 

 of the wealthy and 

 great. Its foolishness 

 is proverbial, being 

 most easily deceived. 

 When it hides its head 

 in a thicket, though 

 the rest of its body is 

 completely exposed, it 

 imagines all is safe. It 

 is said, that if a man 

 dress himself in an os- 

 trich's skin and hold 



out seeds to it, it is easily taken. The noise of the female ostricl 

 is most hideous and doleful. They lay their eggs in the sand to 

 be hatched in the sun. This is wisely ordered by Providence, for 

 if they sat upon them, such is their weight, that they would break 

 them to pieces. It is said, that the male and female watch the 

 eggs by turns. If they chance to be driven away, such is their 

 stupidity, that .they seldom find them again. 



This animal is singularly voracious. Leather, grass, hair, 

 .jtones, metals, it will greedily and indiscriminately devour. 



"^iS</?;,, 



