380 ; THE OSTRICH. 
stridulous kind of cry, which has been likened to the noise produced by 
whetting a scythe. 
In the autumn the young males separate themselves from the other sex, 
and form a number of little bachelor establishments of their own, living 
together in harmony until the next breeding season, when they all begin to 
fall in love. The apple of discord is then thrown among them by the charms 
of the hitherto repudiated sex, and their rivalries lead them into determined 
and continual battles, which do not cease until the end of the season restores 
them to peace and sobriety. te : , 
The general colour of the adult male. bird is black glossed with blue and 
purple, except a white band across each wing. The under tail-coverts are white. 
CURSORES. 
WITH the OSTRICH commences a most important group of birds, contain- 
ing the largest and most powerful members of the feathered tribe, and termed 
Cursores, or Running Birds, on account of their great speed of foot and 
total impotence of wing. All the 
birds belonging to this order have 
their legs developed to an extraor- 
dinary degree, the bones being long, 
stout, and nearly as solid as those 
of a horse, and almost devoid of the 
air-cells which give such lightness 
to the bones of most birds. The 
wings are almost wanting exter- 
nally, their bones, although retaining 
the same number and form as in 
ordinary birds, being very small, 
as if suddenly checked in their 
growth, 
This magnificent creature, the 
largest of all existing birds, inha- 
bits the hot sandy deserts of Africa, 
for which mode of life it is wonder- 
\ fully fitted. In height it measures 
4 from six to eight feet, the males 
being larger than their mates, and 
of a blacker tint. The food of the 
Ostrich consists mostly of wild 
melons, which are so_beneficently 
scattered over the sandv wastes. 
The Ostrich is a gregarious bird, 
associating in flocks, and being fre- 
quently found mixed up with the 
vast herds of quaggas, zebras, 
giraffes, and antelopes, which in- 
: habit the same desert plains. It is 
OSTRICH.—(Struthio Camelus.) also polygamous, each male bird 
having from two to seven wives. 
The nest of the Ostrich is a mere shallow hole scooped in the sand, in 
which are placed a large number of eggs, all set upright, and with a number 
of supplementary eggs laid round the margin. 
The eggs are hatched mostly by the heat of the sun ; but, contrary to the 
popular belief, the parent birds are very watchful over their nests, and aid in 
liatching the eggs by sitting upon them during the might, Both parents give 
