4 
NATURAL HISTORY. 
bears a strong resemblance to that of a camel; it is usually 
seven feet high from the top of the head to the ground ; 
but from the back it is only four; so that the head and 
neck are above three feet long. From the top of the head 
to the rump, when the neck is stretched out in a right line, 
it is six feet long, and the tail is about a foot more. One 
of the wings, without the feathers, is a foot and a half; 
and being stretched out, with the feathers, is three feet. 
The plumage is much alike in all ; that is, genera iiy 
black and white ; though some of them are said to be grey. 
The greatest feathers are at the extremities of the wings 
and tail, and the largest are generally white. The next 
row is black and white ; and of the small feathers, on the 
back and belly, some are white and others black. There 
are no feathers on the sides, nor yet on the thighs, nor 
under the wings. The lower part of the neck, about half 
way, is covered vvith still smaller feathers than those on 
the belly and back ; and those, like the former, also are of 
different colours. The head and upper part of the neck 
are covered with hair. 
At the end of each wing there is a kind of spur, almost 
like the quill of a porcupine. It is an inch long, being 
hollow, and of a horny substance. There are two of these 
on each wing; the largest of which is at the extremity of 
the bone of the wing, and the other a foot lower. The 
neck seems to be more slender in proportion to that of 
other birds, from its not being furnished with feathers. 
The thighs are very fleshy and large, being covered 
with a white skin, inclining to redness, and wrinkled in 
the manner of a net, whose meshes will admit the end of a 
finger. Some have very small feathers here and there on 
the thighs ; and others again have neither feathers nor 
wrinkles. The legs arc covered before with large scales. 
The end of the loot is cloven, and has two very large 
toes, which, like the leg, are covered with scales. These 
toes are of equal sizes. The largest, which is on the 
inside, is seven inches long, including the claw', wdiich 
is near three-fourths of an inch in length, and almost as 
broad. The other toe is but four inches long, and is 
without a claw. 
The ostrich is a native only of the torrid regions of Africa, 
and has never bred out of that country which first pro- 
duced it. Though, however, the climate of France be 
much less warm than that of Barbary, yet. some ostriches 
have been known to lay in the royal menagerie at Ver- 
