OSTRICHES. 
299 
rabbit- trap, in tbe month of May, 1829, and tbe male was 
seen about tbe same time in tbe neighbourhood. 
One great peculiarity deserves mentioning, namely, a sin- 
gular pouch which they have, large 
enough to hold upwards of a quart 
of water. Its use has not been as- 
certained ; by many it was supposed 
to be a provision of nature for sup- 
plying them with water, living as 
they did in vast plains, where water 
was not common ; but as it is con- 
fined to the male, this supposition 
seems to be erroneous, unless, when 
the female is confined to her nest, 
her mate provides her with water ^ ^ 
~ ,i • • Pouch of Bustard 
from this reservoir. 
We come now to the last tribe in the gallinaceous order, 
consisting of birds altogether foreign, of very peculiar habits : 
these, as far as wings and flight are concerned, having 
scarcely a right to be classed amongst birds, as they never 
quit the ground, and know nothing of the power possessed 
by others of the feathered race, of soaring aloft, and fleeing 
away like the Dove, should they wish to seek for food, or 
repose, in a distant country. These birds are the Ostrich, 
the Emu or the Cassowary, and one or two others little 
known. 
Of these the Ostrich is the most common ; its beautiful 
light plumes have long been used as ornaments in ladies’ 
head-dresses; and to this, probably, as it was diligently 
sought after as a valuable prize to the captor, we are in- 
debted for all we know of its natural history, though still 
much remains unknown, for no bird has been more misrepre- 
sented ; first, as a parent, who, after laying her eggs in the 
desert, left them to be hatched by the sun, and cherished no 
affection for her young. This, indeed, is the character she 
bore in the ancient days of the prophet Jeremiah, who com- 
pares the Ostrich to the unnatural mothers of Zion : Even the 
sea monsters draw out the breast , they give such to their 
