THE- OSTRICH. 7, 357 



of their habits they also resemble each other ; the Ostrich lies down 

 in the same way as the camel, by first bending the knee, then leaning 

 forward on the fleshy part of the sternum, and letting its hinder 

 quarters sink down last of all. 



An entire volume might be filled with fables recorded of the 

 Ostrich. According to the Arabs, it is the progeny of a bird and a 

 camel. One Arabian author states that it is aquatic ; another main- 

 tains that it never drinks ; some that its principal food consists of 

 stones and bits of iron. BurTon himself asserts that it might swallow 

 red-hot iron, provided the quantity was small. Pliny and (following 

 him) Pierre Belon, the naturalist of the Renaissance, state that when 

 the Ostrich is pursued it fancies itself safe if it can place its head 

 behind a tree, believing that, as it cannot see its pursuers, they cannot 

 see it. 



That the Ostrich is extremely voracious is certain. Although the 

 senses of sight and hearing are so highly developed that it is said to 

 distinguish objects six miles off, and the slightest sounds excite its 

 ear, the senses of taste and smell are very imperfect. This is the 

 explanation given for its readiness to swallow unedible substances. 

 In a wild state it takes into its stomach large pebbles, to increase its 

 digestive powers ; in captivity it gorges bits of wood and metal, 

 pieces of glass, plaster, and chalk, probably with the same object. 

 The pieces of iron found in the body of one dissected by Cuvier 

 " were not only worn away," says the great naturalist, " as they would 

 likely be by trituration against other hard bodies, but they had been 

 considerably reduced by some digestive juice, and presented all the 

 evidence of actual corrosion." 



Herbage, insects, molluscs, small reptiles, and even small mam- 

 malia, are the principal food of the wild Ostrich ; when it is in a state 

 of domesticity even young chickens are frequently devoured by it. 

 It is capable of enduring hunger and thirst for many days —about the 

 most useful faculty it could possess in the arid and burning deserts 

 which it inhabits — but it is quite a mistake to suppose it never 

 drinks, for it will travel immense distances in search of water when it 

 has suffered a long deprivation, and will then drink with evident 

 pleasure. 



The muscular power of the Ostrich is truly surprising. If matured 

 it can carry a man on its back ; and is readily trained to be mounted 

 like a horse, and to bear a burden. The tyrant Firmius, who reigned 

 in Egypt in the third century, was drawn about by a team of ostriches : 

 even now the negroes frequently use it for riding. 



When it first leels the weight of its rider, the Ostrich starts at a 



