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There are several distinct forms of Ostrich found in 
Africa. The one known as the Northern Ostrich ( Struthio 
camelus) has the naked skin of the legs and neck of a bright 
pink flesh color. Another form from southern Africa ( Struthio 
australis ) has the same parts of a dull lead color, while the 
plates on the front of the lower leg and the gape of the bill 
are red. 
They are natives of the hot, dry plains in the interior of 
Africa, over which they range in small flocks of rarely more 
than half a dozen, subsisting mainly on a species of melon 
which grows wild in those parts. The sexes are readily dis¬ 
tinguished, the males, which furnish the choicest feathers, 
being black and white, while the females are gray. The ostrich 
is the largest known bird now existing, its head sometimes 
reaching to a height of eight feet above the ground. Its long 
legs give it great speed—some writers having estimated its 
pace, when first startled, at fifty miles an hour. Its feet, pad¬ 
ded beneath like those of the camel, adapt it to coursing over 
the shifting, movable sands of its native regions without 
sinking. 
The wings are reduced to mere rudiments, as in all the 
struthious birds, and are utterly useless for purposes of flight. 
It is said, however, that the ostrich spreads them and uses 
them as sails when—to use a nautical term—running before 
the wind. 
Ostrich farming has been practiced in the Cape Colony for 
a long time, and within a few years has been introduced with 
some success into southern California and Florida. 
The cassowaries are also kept in this building. There are 
some half dozen species of the genus Casuarius , mainly dif¬ 
fering in the shape of the helmet on the head and the 
number and arrangement of the wattles hanging from the 
neck; all are natives of northern Australia, New Guinea, 
and a few neighboring islands. They belong to the order of 
struthious birds, with the ostrich, rhea, emu, and apteryx, 
all of which are characterized by great development of the 
lower limbs and loss of the power of flight. 
The Common Cassowary ( Casuarius galeafus') is from the 
island of Ceram, in the Indian Ocean, and Beccari’s Casso¬ 
wary (C. beccarii) inhabits New Guinea and the Aru Islands, 
while Casuarius australis , a fine species, is a native of Australia. 
The feathers of these birds are of a peculiarly filamentous or 
hair-like character, entirely wanting in the webs which spring 
