AFRICA. 195 
oftrlch for the firft nourlfhment of her young, 
I caa quote, in fiipport of my affertlon, the 
teftiinoay of a celehrated navigator, de Bou- 
gainville, who had failed round the globe 
before I even thought of vifiting Africa. Hav- 
ing called upon me to fee my colleftion of 
natural hiftory, after the publication of my 
firft travels, and the converfation turning upon 
what I had w^ritten refpedling' tlie oftrich, he 
told me, that my obfervation was ftri(£lly cor- 
red, that he had every where met with proofs 
of it, and that he had refrained from being 
the firft to publilh it, from the fear that his 
veracity would be called in queftion. This 
however is one of thofe novelties which ought 
to be made known by men capable of beftowing 
on them credibility; for the oplnion'the world 
has formed of a itian is often indifpenfible to 
the giving' the colour of truth to the moft un- 
queftionable fadls. 
From what I have here had occafion to fay 
refpeding the oftrich, I flatter myfelf that I 
fliall be pardoned for adding a few obferva- 
tions more upon the fame fubje£l. 
It has been aflerted by a naturalift to whom 
fcience is much indebted, that at Senegal this 
O 2 ' bird 
