THE OSTRICH. 
5 
sailles ; but the gentlemen of the Academy have in vain 
attempted to make these eggs produce by an artificial pro- 
cess. This bird, so disqualified for society with man, in- 
habits, from preference, the most solitary and horrid deserts, 
where there are few vegetables to clothe the surface of the 
earth, and where the rain never comes to refresh it. The 
Arabians assert that the ostrich never drinks; and the 
place of its habitation seems to confirm the assertion. In 
these formidable regions ostriches are seen in large flocks 
which, to the distant spectator, appear like a regiment of 
cavalry, and have often alarmed a whole caravan. There 
is no desert, how barren soever, but is capable of supply- 
ing these animals with provision ; they eat almost every 
thing ; and these barren tracts are thus doubly grateful as 
they allbrd both food and security. The ostrich is of all 
animals the most voracious. It will devour leather, grass, 
hair, iron, stones, or any tiling that is given. Nor are its 
powers of digestion less in such things as are digestible. 
Those substances which the coats of the stomach cannot 
soften, pass whole ; so that glass, stones, or iron, are ex- 
cluded in the form in which they are devoured. All 
metals indeed, which are swallowed by any animal, lose 
a part of their weight, and often the extremities of their 
figure, from the action of the juices of the stomach upon 
their surface. A quarter pistole, which was swallowed by 
a duck, lost seven grains of its weight in the gizzard be- 
fore it was voided ; and it is probable that a still greater 
diminution of weight would happen in the stomach of an 
ostrich ; considered in this light, therefore, this animal 
may be said to digest iron hut such substances seldom 
remain long enough in the stomach of any animal to un- 
dergo so tedious a dissolution. The ostrich lays very 
large eggs, some of them being above five inches in 
diameter, and weighing above fifteen pounds. These 
eggs have a very hard shell, somewhat resembling those of 
the crocodile, except that those of the latter are less and 
rounder. 
The season for laying depends on the climate ; in the 
northern parts of Africa it is about the beginning of July ; 
jh die south, it is about the latter end of December. 
These birds are very prolific, and lay generally from thirty 
to forty eggs in a season, and about twelve at one clutch. 
It has been commonly reported that the female deposits 
them in the sand ; and covering them up, leaves them to 
he hatched by the heat of the climate, and then permits 
the young to shift for themselves. Very little of this how- 
