[Illustration: THE OSTRICH (_Struthio camelus_).]
The OSTRICH (_Struthio camelus_) is at once recognisable by its very
powerful body, long and partially bare throat, and small flat head. The
moderately long, depressed, and straight bill is rounded at its extremity,
and has the open longitudinal nostrils prolonged nearly half-way down
the beak. The large brilliant eyes are protected by lashes, and the
open uncovered ears lined with a hairy growth. The long legs are bare
or only overspread with a few bristles on the thighs, while the tarsi
are covered with large scales, and the feet furnished with but two toes:
the innermost of which is armed with a large, broad, blunt claw. The
wings are furnished with waving plumes, and two bare shafts, not unlike
porcupine's quills. In this bird the sternum has no keel, but is simply
convex, shield-like, and covered with a callous pad or elastic cushion,
having a hard rough surface unclothed with feathers, on which the birds
support their bodies when reposing on the ground. The thick curly plumage
differs in its coloration according to the sex of the bird. In the male
the small rump-feathers are coal-black, the flowing wing and tail feathers
of a dazzling whiteness. The colour of the female is a brownish grey,
mingled with dirty white. The young resemble the mother after the first
moulting. The height of the fully-grown male is eight feet, and his
length from the tip of the beak to the end of the tail at least six
feet; the weight of the body is about one hundredweight and a half. These
large and remarkable birds inhabit the vast deserts and barren steppes of
Southern Africa, and were formerly far more numerous than they are now.
Lichtenstein, who wrote at the commencement of this century, mentions
having seen flocks containing as many as 300 individuals in the country
near the Cape, but at the present day they are usually met with in small
families, consisting of but one male and from two to four females. In such
countries as are not subjected to any violent changes of temperature,
they remain from one year to another within a certain limited district,
provided it affords them ample means of subsistence, and a large supply of
water, which is indispensable. As regards the development of their senses,
these birds are very unequally gifted; their power of sight is extensive,
whilst their taste and hearing are comparatively deficient. The cry of
the Ostrich, which is often uttered at night, is a loud, dolorous, and
stridulous sound, and in the stillness of the desert plains may be heard
to a great distance. Some have compared it to the roar of the lion, but
Dr. Tristram, from whom we borrow the following account of the habits of
this bird, describes it as more like the hoarse lowing of an ox in pain.
The note of the Ostrich during the day or when feeding he describes as
being very different--a sort of hissing chuckle. The beauty of its wings
and tail-feathers, which are as highly prized by the Bedouins for the
decoration of tombs and of the tents and spear-heads of their sheikhs as
they are for head-dresses among Western nations, have caused its chase
to be a favourite employment of all desert tribes, and good skins fetch
very high prices in the native markets. This bird never approaches settled
habitations, and very rarely cultivated lands; it usually selects an
open space where it is safe from surprise, and where by its fleetness it
"scorneth the horse and his rider."
[Illustration: _Plate 30. Cassell's Book of Birds_