THE BOOK OF BIRDS 



THE OSTRICH. 



IF the Eagle is the King of birds, the Ostrich is easily- 

 first in point of size. Length of wing belongs to the 

 former ; length of limb to the latter. The Ostrich 

 has no mighty vans wherewith to sail sublimely over the 

 highest mountains, but his swift feet skim across the 

 sandy wastes that are his home, with a speed that leaves 

 even a good horse far behind. 



A well-grown male Ostrich stands eight feet high, 

 and as his stride measures anything from ten to fourteen 

 feet, and, when going at full speed, considerably more, 

 it is easy to understand why the horsemen of the desert 

 look upon the chase and capture of an Ostrich as some- 

 thing of a feat. What was said by the ancient writer 

 of the Book of Job is still often true : " What time she 

 lifteth up herself on high, she scorneth the horse and 

 his rider." 



The Ostrich — the Arabian Ostrich, at all events — 

 has been known to man from earliest times. For, unlike 

 those birds whose dwelling-place is some remote island 

 or pathless forest, his home and j^layground happened to 

 be on the borders of those Eastern lands which filled with 

 people while still the world was young. The men and 



