black. In size this bird somewhat exceeds our quail, being about nine inches in length, and stoutly made. The female has but little crest, and the general tone of colouring is browner and more obscure.

The last family of the order Rasores, is that of the Ostriches and their allies, and is termed Struthionida.

FAM. STRUTHIONIDE.

THE birds of this family, though differing from each other in many important particulars, all agree in certain prominent features. Their form is heavy and massive, the great developement of powers being concentrated in the limbs, while the organs of flight are reduced to a mere rudimentary condition, and totally inadequate to the task of raising their possessors into the air.

We are accustomed to look upon birds as denizens of the air; as made for flight; as beings winging their way through the blue sky from grove to grove, and from clime to clime: but here we see an exception; we see a race of birds incapable of elevating themselves from the earth, to whose surface they are bound. It is true they have wings, but what wings!-the skeleton of these organs is small and undeveloped, and they are furnished, not with a dense and well-compacted mass of feathers with stiff shafts, and vanes composed of barbs, close and adhesive; not with firm, springy quill-feathers, with which to strike the air; but they are either devoid of plumage, or furnished with loose and waving plumes, having barbs floating and disconnected.

But though the sphere of these birds be thus retrenched, they are not left without ample compensation. Destitute of flight they make up for this defect by their speed on the course. They scour the wilds and the deserts, outstripping the "steed and his rider." We have stated the great developement of power to be in the limbs, and accordingly we see the thighs consisting of immense muscles, and the tarsi long and stout, covered with hard scales; the toes, except in two extraordinary birds, which indeed, though placed in this family, are to be regarded as only

provisionally collocated with it, (we allude to the Dodo and the Apteryx,) are at most only three in number, the hind toe being always deficient, not even a vestige of it appearing. To these characters we may add, that the neck is long, the beak rounded at the tip, but otherwise varying in form; the eyes large, and the eyelids fringed with lashes. The feathers of the body are either loose and discomposed, or, on the other hand, hair-like in their

texture.

Birds of giant bulk and stature, their appearance has something in it very striking; their intelligence is however but at a low ebb, so that they are esteemed perhaps less sagacious than they are in reality. Such then are the Struthionidæ, strictly terrestrial birds, the whole of whose structure accords with their habits. Their food consists of vegetable matters principally, to which insects and even reptiles are also added; not however, (and it is the case with the rest of the Rasorial order,) without the addition of pebbles, and gravel, which are often swallowed in immense quantities. In captivity, any hard substance is indiscriminately received, but in a state of liberty, instinct doubtless duly guides the selection.

The genera into which the present family is divided are few, and contain each only a single species. Of these we shall first notice the genus Struthio, characterized by the beak being flat and rounded, by the toes being only two, by the eyes being large and well guarded by eyelashes, and by the wings being furnished with flowing plumes.

The species under this head is the OSTRICH, (Struthio Camelus, LIN.) the Camel-bird of the Arabs. Celebrated from the earliest antiquity, and unequalled in stature among the feathered race, this bird has peculiar claims upon our notice; not only because it is often referred to by the sacred writers, but because, like the camel, its formation expressly adapts it for the wide plains and sandy deserts, where it takes up its abode beneath a burning sun. Nor is it without a certain de

gree of interest, even if we regard it merely in a commercial point of view, inasmuch as its feathers, prized in every nation, are no inconsiderable article of traffic throughout the world.

The Ostrich is found throughout Arabia, and the whole of Africa, every where preferring the solitude of the desert, and avoiding the presence of man. Endowed

with strength proportioned to its size, and capable of inflicting severe injuries by striking with its feet, it never resists actively except in defence of its nest against predatory beasts, or when driven to extremity, but trusts to its speed for safety. Elevating itself to the full stretch, and vibrating its expanded wings, away it scours, leaving its foe behind. Unfortunately, however, instead of darting off in a direct line, in which case the best mounted horseman would have no chance, it wheels round in circles of greater or less extent; and yet so rapid is the course, that its chase is accounted one of the most difficult exercises both for the Arab and his horse, requiring at the same time the most unwearied patience and the most reckless impetuosity, the former in keeping it always in sight, the latter in dashing down upon the fatigued fugitive at the favourable moment; when, on crossing the path of the bird, the rider throws his jerid (a sort of stick) or fires his musket. A chase of this kind will frequently last from eight to ten hours. In captivity, the Ostrich is mild and gentle; and it appears that in some towns in Africa (as Sockna, Hoon, and Wadan) numbers are kept for the sake of their feathers, as articles of trade. Dr. Shaw

(see his Travels in Arabia) says, "I had several oppor

tunities of amusing myself with the actions and behaviour of the ostrich. It was very diverting to observe with what dexterity and equipoise of body it would play and frisk about on all occasions. In the heat of the day, particularly, it would strut along the sunny side of the house with great majesty. It would be perpetually fanning and priding itself with its quivering expanded wings;"-"even at other times it would continue these fanning vibrating motions."

He also adds, that though gentle to such persons as

were familiar to them, "they were often rude and fierce to strangers, especially the poorer sort, whom they would not only endeavour to push down by running furiously upon them, but would not cease to peck at them violently with their bills, and to strike at them with their feet, whereby they were frequently very mischievous;" one unfortunate person, indeed, was most shockingly lacerated.

The Ostrich, in this country, does not appear ferocious in captivity; those in the gardens of the Zoological Society are perfectly tame and quiet; and M. Adanson states, that soon after being captured, the ostrich will suffer itself to be mounted and ridden like a horse, as he often witnessed in Senegal; observing also, that though encumbered with the weight of two riders, it would outstrip an excellent English horse in speed.

Much has been said, and much contrariety of opinion has existed, respecting the nidification of this celebrated bird. In the south of Africa, where it has been most observed by modern travellers and men of science, Le Vaillant, Professor Lichtenstein, and others, the ostrich certainly covers her eggs like the fowl or partridge. It would appear that the male bird is polygamous, and several females lay their eggs together in a single nest; this nest being merely a shallow cavity scraped in the ground, with an elevated rim of sand, and of such dimensions as to be conveniently covered by one bird during the office of incubation. This would account for the great but irregular number of eggs, that is, from thirty to sixty or more, which a nest is often found to contain ; each female laying from ten to twelve. Besides those fairly contained in the nest, many are also scattered around; and it is said that the laying continues after the process of incubation has begun, and even after the young are hatched, these eggs being intended to serve as nutriment to the brood till they are capable of digesting coarser fare; a statement not yet satisfactorily proved. Most probably these eggs are merely supernumeraries which the nest would not contain, or which have slipped over the rim. During the day, the females relieve each other in

the office of incubation by turns, and the male takes his turn at night. In this alternate duty, Le Vaillant watched four females successively engaged, the male taking his share towards the close of the evening. Recluse and wary, the Ostrich of South Africa adopts every precaution to conceal the situation of its nest; and uniformly abandons it after destroying the eggs, if it perceives that they have been disturbed; hence, the natives, who regard them as delicacies, abstract them as cautiously as possible by means of a long stick, and endeavour to prevent even the prints of their footsteps from being visible. The period of incubation is about forty days; the young are covered with a coarse, mottled, and striped plumage of blackish brown and yellowish white; the feathers of the back having the shaft dilated into a thin horny strip. Though the ostrich near the Cape thus incubates like other birds, it appears that, "within the torrid zone, the eggs are merely laid in the warm sand, the female sometimes sitting upon them during the night; but in general the rays of the sun are sufficiently powerful to hatch them without any assistance on her part. She does not, however, as has been commonly stated, neglect her offspring, but watches over them with as much solicitude as any other bird, hovering around the spot on which they are deposited, and if surprised, making a short circuit, and constantly returning to the object of her care."

With the general form and structure peculiar to birds, the Ostrich in many points of its organization bears a close resemblance to the ruminating quadrupeds, a resemblance which was not overlooked by the ancients, and which led them to trace a certain measure of affinity between it and the camel. Aristotle, indeed, asserts the Ostrich to be partly bird and partly quadruped, and Pliny said it might almost be regarded as belonging to the class of beasts. Hence its name of Camel-bird, not only among the Orientals, but among the Greeks and Romans; Struthiocamelus, as Pliny writes it, being compounded of the Greek words povos a bird, and Kaunλos a camel. The muscular thighs, divested of feathers, are certainly not very bird-like; added to which, we find the foot