Am.  Jour,  Pharm.  \ 
Aug.  1, 1871.  ; 
Notes  on  Bird  Oils. 
365 
time ;  but,  according  to  the  Arabs,  the  patient,  having  thus  been  re- 
lieved from  all  the  bad  humors  in  his  body,  afterwards  acquires 
robust  health  and  his  sight  becomes  singularly  good. 
The  grease  of  the  emu,  or  Australian  Qstrich  {Bromaius  Novce- 
Hollandice)  is  held  in  great  esteem  by  both  colonists  and  natives  as  a 
cure  of  bruises  and  rheumatism.  The  skin  of  the  bird  produces  six 
or  seven  quarts  of  a  clear,  beautiful,  bright  yellow  inodorous  oil. 
The  method  of  obtaining  the  oil  is  to  pluck  the  feathers,  cut  the  skin 
into  pieces  and  boil  it. 
At  one  of  the  Madras  Industrial  Exhibitions,  oil  from  peacocks'  fat 
in  Tinnevelly  was  shown,  but  it  was  not  stated  to  what  use  it  was 
applied. 
In  South  America,  in  the  immense  cavern  of  Gaucharo,  in  the 
government  of  Cumana,  Humboldt  describes  an  extensive  pursuit 
carried  on  of  a  bird  for  its  fat  by  the  Indians.  This  cave  is  peopled 
by  millions  of  nocturnal  birds  {Steatornis  caripensis)  a  new  species  of 
the  Caprimulgis  of  Linnseus.  About  midsummer  the  young  birds  are 
slaughtered  by  thousands.  The  peritonaeum  is  found  loaded  with  fat, 
and  a  layer  of  the  same  substance  reaches  from  the  abdomen  to  the 
vent,  forming  a  kind  of  cushion  between  the  hind  legs.  Humboldt 
remarks  that  this  quantity  of  fat  in  frugivorous  animals  not  exposed 
to  the  light,  and  exerting  but  little  muscular  motion,  brings  to  mind 
what  has  been  long  observed  in  the  fattening  of  geese  and  oxen.  It 
is  well  known,  he  adds,  how  favorable  darkness  and  repose  are  to 
this  process.  The  fat  of  the  young  birds  is  melted  in  clay  pots  over 
a  brushwood  fire.  It  is  half  liquid,  transparent,  inodorous,  and  so 
pure  that  it  will  keep  above  a  year  without  turning  rancid.* 
The  passenger  pigeons  [Oolumha  migratoria)  of  North  America  are 
another  source  of  oil.  They  migrate  at  certain  seasons  in  millions, 
and  the  Indians,  watching  their  roosting-places  in  the  forests,  knock 
them  on  the  head  in  the  night  and  bring  them  away  by  thousands. 
The  Indians  preserve  the  oil  or  fat,  which  they  use  instead  of  butter. 
There  was  formerly  scarcely  any  little  Indian  village  in  the  interior 
where  a  hundred  gallons  of  this  oil  might  not  at  any  time  be  pur- 
chased. The  squabs,  or  young  pigeons,  when  taken  in  quantity,  are 
also  melted  down  by  the  settlers  as  a  substitute  for  butter  or  lard. — 
The  Pharm.  Jour,  and  Trans.  June  17,  1871. 
*  Bonnycastle's  *  South  America.' 
