CHAPTER XXXIV 

 THE ORDER OF WINGLESS LAND-BIRDS 



RATITAE 



Lowest of the Orders of living birds is that 

 which contains the birds which are so nearly 

 wingless that they are wholly unable to fly, 

 but are provided with long and powerful legs, 

 which enable them to run swift- 

 ly. Of these, there are a larger 

 number of species than might 

 be supposed, but our purpose re- 

 quires here only the briefest in- 

 troduction of a few important 

 forms. The majority of the birds 

 of this group are birds of great 

 size, and their legs are so long 

 and powerful they are able to 

 kick or strike quite dangerously. 

 These are the ostriches, rheas, 

 cassowaries, and emeus. 



The African Ostrich^ is the 

 largest living bird, and in every 

 respect it is a worthy descend- 

 ant of the still more gigantic 

 but now extinct moa of Now 

 Zealand. Our full-grown male 

 Ostrich stands, when fully erect, 

 exactly 8 feet in height to the 

 top of its head, and weighs about 

 275 pounds. The manager of the 

 Florida Ostrich Farm at .Jack- 

 sonville states that the average 

 weight of adult African Ostriches 

 is about .300 pounds. 



Once abundant in nearly all 

 the dry and open country of 

 Africa, except the Sahara and Lib- 

 yan deserts, this noble bird has 

 shared the fate of the elephant, rhinoceros, buf- 

 falo and giraffe. To-day it is to be found but 

 sparingly, and only in those regions of southern 

 and eastern Africa wherein it has been impossi- 

 ble for man to exterminate it. The value in 

 America of a full-grown African Ostrich is $2.50. 

 ' Strii'ihi-o cam'e-lus. 



Fortunately the Ostrich farms of South 

 Africa and southern California have pro\'en 

 completely successful, and bid fair to perpetuate 

 this grandest of all feathered creatures long 



New York Zoological Park. 



CERAM CASSOWARY. 



after the last wild flock has been destroyed. 

 If many Ostriches still remain in the Egyptian 

 Soudan, the stringent game-laws recently enacted 

 to protect the wild life of that region will go 

 far toward perpetuating them. 

 The Rhea, or South American Ostrich,^ 



'■* Rhe'a amerlcatia. 



309 



