rn parts of Africa, this season is about the 
beginning of July ; in the south it is about the 
alter end of December. Thfcs* birds are very 
bolide, and lay generally from forty to fifty 
?ggs at one clutch. It has been commonly 
reported, that the female deposits them in 
Lie sand, and covering them up, leaves them 
to be hatched by the heat of the climate, and 
then permit-s the young to shift for themselves. 
[Very little of this, however, is true: no bird 
has a stronger affection for her young than 
the ostrich, r»or none watches her eggs with 
[greater assiduity. It happens, indeed, in 
those hot climates, that there is le->s necessity 
for the continual incubation of the female; 
and she more frequently leaves her eggs, 
■which are in no danger of being chilled by 
the weather : but though she sometimes for- 
sakes them bv day, she always carefully broods 
over them by night ; and Kolben, who has 
seen great numbers of them at the Cape of 
Good Hope, affirms, that they sit on their 
eggs like other birds, and that the male and 
the female take this office by turns, as he had 
frequent opportunities of observing. Nor 
is it more true what is said of their forsaking 
, their young after they are excluded the shell. 
On the contrary, the young ones are not even 
able to walk for several days after they are 
hatched. During this time the old ones are 
very assiduous in supplying them with grass, 
and’ very careful to defend them from danger ; 
na , they encounter every danger in their 
defence. The young, when brought forth, 
are of an ash-colour the first year, and are co- 
vered with feathers all over. But in time 
these feathers drop ; and those parts which 
are covered assume a different and more be- 
coming plumage. 
The beauty of a part of this plumage, par- 
ticularly the long feathers that compose the 
wings and tail, is the chief reason that man 
has been so active in pursuing this harmless 
j bird to its deserts, and hunting ;t with no small 
j degree of expeijce and labour. The antients 
used those plumes in their helmets; our mi- 
litary wear them in their hats; and the ladies 
made them an ornament in their dress. Those 
I feathers which are plucked from the animal 
while alive are much lnore valued than those 
j taken w hen dead, the latter being dry, light, 
and subject to be worm-eaten. 
Besides the value of their plumage, some 
of the savage nations of Africa hunt them alsb 
for their flesh ; which they consider as a 
dainty. They sometimes also breed these 
i birds tame, to eat the young ones, of which 
the females are said to be the greatest delica- 
| cv. Even among the Europeans now, the 
eggs of the ostrich are said to be well tasted, 
and extremely nourishing ; but they are too 
scarce to be fed upon, although a single 
egg is a sufficient entertainment for eight 
men. 
As the spoils of the ostrich are thus va- 
luable, it is not to be wondered at that m m 
Jias become their most assiduous pursuer. 
For this purpose, the Arabians train up their 
best and fleetest horses, and hunt the ostrich 
still in view. Perhaps, of all varieties of the 
chase, this, though the most laborious, is yet 
the most entertaining. As soon as the hunter 
comes within sight of his prey, he puts on his 
horse with a gentle gallop, so as to keep 
the ostrich still in sight; yet not so as to ter- 
jyfy him from the plain into the mountains. 
STRUTHTO. 
Of all know'll aniioAls, the ostrich is by far 
the swiftest in running; upon observing him- 
self, therefore, pursued at a distance, he begins 
to run at first but gently ; either insensible o! 
his danger, or sure of escaping. Unfortunately 
for the sil'y creature, instead of going off in a 
direct line, he takes his course in circles ; 
while the hunters still make a small course 
within, relieve each other, meet him at unex- 
pected turns, and keep him thus still employed, 
still followed, for two or three days together. 
At last, spent with fatigue and famine, and 
finding all power of escape impossible, he en- 
deavours to hide himself from those enemies 
he cannot avoid, and covers his head in the 
sand or the first thicket he meets. Some- 
times, however, he attempts to face his pur- 
suers; and though in general the most gentle 
animalin nature, when driven to desperation 
he defends himself with his beak, his wings, 
and his feet. Such is the force of his motion, 
that a man would be utterly unable to w ith- 
stand him in the shock. 
'The Struthophagi have another method of 
taking this bird: they cover themselves 
with an ostrich’s skin, and passing up an arm 
through the neck, thus counterfeit all the mo- 
tions of this animal. By this artifice they 
approach the ostrich, which becomes ai easy 
prey. He is sometimes also taken by dogs 
and nets ; but the most usual way is that men- 
tioned above. 
When the Arabians have thus taken an os- 
trich they cut its throat ; and making a liga- 
ment below the opening, they shake the bird 
as one would rinse a barrel ; then taking off 
the ligature, there runs out from the wound 
in the throat a considerable quantity of blood 
mixed with the fat of the animal ; and this is 
considered as one of their greatest dainties. 
They next flay the bird; and of the skin, 
which is strong and thick, sometimes make a 
kind of vest, which answers the purposes of a 
cuirass and a buckler. 
There are others who, more compassionate 
or more provident, do not kill their captive, 
but endeavour to tame it, for the purposes of 
supplying those feathers which are in so great 
request. The inhabitants of Daara and Lybia 
breed up whole flocks of them, and they are 
tamed w ith very little trouble. But it is not 
for their feathers alone that they are prized in 
this domestic state ; they are often ridden 
upon and used as horses. Moore assures us, 
that at Joar, he saw a man travelling upon an 
ostrich ; and Adanson asserts, that at the fac- 
tory of Podore he had tw'o ostriches, which 
were then young, the strongest of which 
ran swifter than the best English racer, al- 
though he carried two negroes on Iris back. 
As soon as the animal perceived that it was 
thus loaded, it set off running with all its force, 
and made several circuits round the village; 
till at length people were obliged to stop it by 
barring up the way, How far, this strength 
and swiftness may be useful to mankind, even 
in a polished state, is a matter that perhaps 
deserves inquiry. See Plate Nat. Hist, fig. 
37y. 
2. The cassowary (the casiiarius of Lin- 
naeus. and galeated cassowary of Dr. Latham) 
was first brought into Europe from' Java by 
the Dutch about the year 1597. It is nearly 
equal in size to the ostrich, but its legs are 
much thicker and stronger in proportion. 
This conformation gives it an air of strength 
‘ ’ 4 Y 2 
723 
and force, which the fierceness and singularity 
of its countenance conspire to render formi- 
dable. It is five feet and a half long from 
the point of the bill to the extremity of the 
claws. The legs are two feet and a halt higli 
from the belly to the end of the claws. 
T he head and neck together are a foot 
and a half; and the largest toe, includ- 
ing the claw, is five inches long. r l he claw 
alone of the least toe is three inches and a halt 
in length. The wing is so small that it does 
not appear, it being hidden under the lea- 
thers of the back. In other birds, a part of 
the feathers serve for flight, and are different 
from those that serve merely for covering; 
but in the cassowary all the, feathers are ot the 
same kind, and outwardly ot the same colour. 
They are generally double, having tw'o lohg 
shafts, which grow out of a short one, which 
is fixed in the skin. Those that are double 
are always of unequal length’; for some are 
fourteen inches long, particularly on the 
rump, while others are not above three. 
The beards that adorn the stein or slvatt 
are about half-way to the end, very long, and 
as thick as a horse-hair, without being sub- 
divided into fibres. The stem or shaft is 
flat, shining, black, and knotted below ; 
and from each knot there proceeds a beard,; 
likewise the beards at the end of the large 
feathers are perfectly black, and towards 
the root of a grey tawny colour; shorter, 
more soft, and throwing out fine fibres like 
down; so that nothing appears except the 
ends, which are hard and black ; because the 
other part, composed of down, is quite co- 
vered. There are feathers on the head and 
neck ; but they are so short and thinly sown, 
that the bird’s skin appears naked, except to- 
wards the hinder part of the head, w here 
they are a little longer. The feathers which 
adorn the rump are extremely thick ; but do 
not differ in other respects from the rest, ex- 
cept in their being longer. The wings, 
when they are deprived of their feathers, are 
but three inches long; and the feathers are 
like those on other parts of the body. The 
ends of the wings are adorned with five 
prickles, of different lengths and thickness, 
which bend like a bow' : these are hollow from 
the roots to the very points, having only that 
slight substance within which all quills are 
known to have. The longest of these prickles 
is eleven inches ; and it is a quarter of an inch 
in diameter at the root, being thicker there 
than towards the extremity : the point seems 
broken off. 
The part, however, which most distinguishes 
this animal is the head ; which, though small, 
like that of an ostrich, does not fail to inspire 
some degree of terror. It is bare of feathers, 
and is in a manner armed with a helmet of 
horny substance, that covers it from the root 
of the bill to near half the head backwards. 
This helmet is black before and yellow be- 
hind. Its substance is very hard, being form- 
ed by the elevation of the bone of the skull ; 
and ft consists of several plates one over ano- 
ther, like the horn of an ox. Die neck is of 
a violet colour, inclining to that of slate ; and 
it is red behind in several places, but chiefly 
in the middle. About the middle of the neck 
before, at the rise of the large feathers, there 
are two processes formed by the skin, which 
resemble somewhat the gills of a cock, hut 
that they are blue as well as red. The skip 
which covers the fore part of fe easq an 
