| ‘OF BVH 6 Egy 
under the wings, remain afterwards bare of fea- 
thers: on the other parts of the body, the feathers 
_ are white and black by turns, and fome are grey. 
_ The feathers on the lower part of the neck.are 
the fhorteft ; they grow longer on the’ ftomach’ 
_ and on the back; but the longeft of all are in the 
__ tail and the wings, and they are the moft valued. | 
-Moft other birds are apt to have infects upon 
their bodies, but none have been os a on the 
Oftrich. : 
Some people have thisu ph that Ofttiches could 
“digest ftones and i iron, and iron even when it was _ 
red hot; but this muft be a miftake: it is very” 
true that they will {wallow ftones, and glafs, and | 
iron, partly, perhaps, becaufe they may not {mell 
very well, and partly to enable them to digeft 
their other food; as Poultry {wallow fmall oe 
i for that purpofe. : | 
tT he Oftrich is a bird peculiar to Africa, to ie 
that are near Africa. 
Ofttiches prefer lonely faivatibis where it 
feldom rains. The Arabians fay that they never’ 
drink, They fometimes go in large flocks, and 


Be tele d defert places they often alarm the caravans, 
| 

i E Gidbbousine ilands, and to thofe parts of Afia : 
at a diftance look like fquadrons of horfe; andin 
