424 



BLACK OSTRICH. 



Struthio Camelus. Raii. Si/n. 36, l.^Wills. Orn. 104. pL 

 25,—Briss. Orn. 5.3. — Linn. SysU Nat. 1. 265,—Gmel. Si^st. 

 Nat. 1. 726.— Lath. Ind, Orn. 2. 663. 1. 



L'Autruche. Buf. Ois. 1. 398. pL 2g.-^Buf, PI. Enl 457, 

 female. 



Black Ostrich. Bro'mn. IlL Zool.pl. \6. — Alh. Birds. 3. pi. 53. 

 Gent. Mag. 18. pi. in p. 580. — Spar. Voy. I. p. 130. 2. p. 81. — 

 Lath. Gen. Syn. 5, 6. pi. 7 1. — Lath. Syn. Sup. 230. — Lath. 

 Syn. Sup. II. 288. — Bing. Anim. Biog. 2. p. 273. 



This gigantic species is at once the largest and 

 most remarkable of this class, exceeding all birds 

 in its extraordinary magnitude, often measuring 

 upwards of eight feet in height, and as many in 

 length, from the tip of the beak to the end of the 

 tail, but to the top of the back it seldom exceeds 

 four feet : its general appearance is peculiarly 

 striking and attractive : its head is very small in 

 proportion : its beak is four inches and a half in 

 length, horn-coloured, with the tip dusky: the 

 eyelids are fringed with hair: irides hazel: the 

 head and greater part of the neck are flesh- 

 coloured, destitute of feathers, but slightly covered 

 with a few scattered hairs: the feathers of the 

 lower part of the neck and those of the body 

 are black, with their webs peculiarly constructed, 

 being very loose and somewhat crisped in ap- 

 pearance : the quills and tail-feathers are of a pure 

 snowy w^hite, beautifully waving with the air, and 

 some of them tipped and fringed with black : the 

 wings have each of them two spurs, about one 

 inch in length : the sides of the body and thighs 



are naked : the breast is armed with a hard callous 



i 



substance : the legs are strong, of a greyish brown 



