OSTRICH, 



38.9 



said in the Si/st. Nat. that one female lays 50 eggs. Mr. Barrow, 

 who gives this account, mentions, that small oval pebbles, the size 

 of a pea, of a pale yellow colour, and very hard, are found in these, 

 that in one egg he found nine, and in another twelve of such stones.* 

 Dr. Span-man, also, confirmed to me what Mr. Barrow advances 

 on the subject, and thinks, that from sixteen to twenty may be the 

 usual number for each hen to lay. An Ostrich Chicken, taken the 

 16th of December, was about one foot in height. The Hottentots 

 eat the flesh, and the Colonists the eggs, and often use them 

 in their pancakes, but they are not so good as those of a Common 

 Hen. The eggs are laid on the bare sand, and are often scattered 

 and loose. M. Buffbn computes the whole weight of a complete 

 egg at fifteen pounds, but certainly, from what has been said above, 

 overrates it considerably, six or seven pounds being as much as the 

 greater part of them are equal to. The cry of the old bird is com- 

 pared to that of a lion, hut shorter, and the young have no cry at 

 all. It requires much address to take these birds, even a man on a 

 swift horse cannot easily overtake them ; perhaps with greyhounds 

 the matter might be accomplished sooner, though when wanted for 

 the feathers they are generally shot, by a person lying in wait behind 

 a bush. None but the Africans will eat the flesh, but these esteem 

 it a delicacy, and the fat is used in cookery ; the eggs also are eaten, f 

 and the shells suspended under the vaulted roofs, not only of the 

 Mahometan Mosques, but also of the Greek and Cophtic churches; 

 and would indeed be esteemed a beautiful ornament everywhere, 

 was the difficulty of procuring them greater. Some of the natives 

 obtain the birds by following at a distance for two or three days, and 

 having tired them out, knock them down with clubs; others conceal 



* Barrow. — In Syria, principally in the Dahy, about Damascus, they breed; and great 

 quantities are killed there. — Burchardf s Trav. in Syria, App. p. 6G4. 



f The way that the Hottentots dress the eggs, is simply to bury them in hot ashes, and 

 through a hole made in the upper end, to stir the contents continually round, till they acquire 

 the consistence of an Omelet. This is thought by many to be an excellent repast. 



