AND AMERICAN RURAL SPORTS. 
in the trituration of its food. Its fondness for the metals, 
in particular, was early remarked, and obtained for it the 
epithet of the “ iron-eating Ostrich.” Popular credulity 
even went so far as to assign to it the power of digesting 
these substances, and many are the allusions in our older 
writers to this fancied property. As an amusing illustra- 
tion of the prevalence of this belief, we may quote the fol- 
lowing characteristic lines from “The Boke of Philip 
Sparow,” written by Master John Skelton, a laurelled poet 
of the reign of King Henry the Eighth: 
The Estridge that will eate 
An horshowe so greate 
In the steade of meat 
Such fervent heat 
His stomake doth freat. 
We know not if the Ostriches of these days are given to 
the eating of horseshoes; but unquestionably they have a 
particular fancy for keys, nails, and other such easily dis- 
posed of articles. It would, however, be perfectly ridiculous 
to imagine that the stomach of this bird is capable of digest- 
ing metals, and converting them into food, although it is 
undoubtedly true, that after having lain in that organ for a 
length of time, they become corroded by its juices. M. 
Cuvier found in the stomach of an individual that died in 
the Paris Menagerie, nearly a pound weight of stones, bits 
of iron and copper, and pieces of money, worn down by 
constant attrition against each other, as well as by the action 
of the stomach itself. The human stomach, we may add, 
is equally capable of a similar exertion, although not so 
frequently called upon to put it to the test. Many of our 
readers will no doubt recollect the case of an American 
sailor, who died in one of the London hospitals in 1809, 
and who had swallowed, in the ten previous years, no 
fewer than thirty-five clasp-knives. Fragments of these, 
to the number of between thirty and forty, thirteen or 
fourteen of them being evidently blades, were found in his 
stomach after death. “Some of these,” says Dr. Marcet, 
in his account of the case, “ were remarkably corroded and 
reduced in size, while others were comparatively in a tole- 
rable state of preservation.” More than one instance of a 
similar description has since been put on record. 
Although the Ostriches live together in large herds, the 
received opinion among naturalists is, that the males attach 
themselves to a single female. There is some difficulty in 
determining the number of eggs laid by the latter; some 
travellers estimating it as high as eighty, while others 
reduce it to ten. Of this latter opinion was Le Vaillant, 
whose authority is decidedly entitled to the highest respect 
on every subject connected with the habits of birds, which 
he studied in a state of nature with the scrutinizing eye 
of a philosopher, and the patient zeal of a scientific observer. 
U 
He relates, however, a circumstance which once fell under 
his own observation, and which tends in some measure to 
reconcile these discordant statements, while at the same 
time it renders it questionable whether the Ostrich is not, 
occasionally at least, polygamous. Having disturbed a 
female from a nest containing thirty-eight eggs of unequal 
size, and having thirteen others scattered around it, he 
concealed himself at a short distance, and observed, during 
the day, no less than four females successively taking part 
in the maternal office. Towards the close of the evening, 
a male also took his share of the duty; and Le Vaillant 
remarks, that he has frequently had opportunities of veri- 
fying the fact, that the male bird sits as well as the female. 
In this case it would appear probable that several females 
had deposited their eggs in one common nest. The extra- 
ordinary number of eggs said to have been sometimes found, 
may also, perhaps, be accounted for by the fondness of the 
natives for these delicacies, which they abstract from the 
nest by means of a long stick, cautiously avoiding to intro- 
duce their hands, which, they affirm, would infallibly drive 
the bird to abandon the place. The Ostrich naturally con- 
tinues laying in order to complete her usual number; and in 
this way forty or fifty eggs may actually have been obtained 
from a single female. 
Within the torrid zone the eggs are merely laid in the 
warm sand, the female sometimes sitting upon them during 
the night; but, in general, the rays of the sun are sufficiently 
powerful to hatch them, without any assistance on her part. 
She does not, however, as has been commonly stated, ne- 
glect her offsjDring, but watches over them with as much 
solicitude as any other bird, hovering around the spot in 
which they are deposited, and if surprised in her occupation, 
making a short circuit, and constantly returning to the 
object of her care. This doubling kind of flight is regarded 
by the hunters as a certain sign of the vicinity of her eggs, 
as at all other times the Ostriches pursue, for a time at 
least, a direct and straight forward course. In the more 
temperate regions, and especially in the neighbourhood of 
the Cape, the Ostrich sits like other birds, always choosing 
the most retired and solitary places. Her nest consists 
merely of a pit of about three feet in diameter dug in 
the sand, which is thrown up around it so as to form an 
elevated margin. At some little distance are usually placed, 
each in a separate cavity in the sand, a number of rejected 
eggs, which are said to be intended to serve as nutriment 
for the young brood, as soon as hatched; a most remark- 
able instance of foresight, if truly stated, but not yet con- 
firmed beyond the possibility of doubt. 
The eggs are extremely hard, very weighty, and twenty 
or thirty times as large as those of our common hen. The 
colour of the shells is a dirty white, tinged with light 
