SOUTH AMERICAN Rhea is the name by which this immense bird is known to
science. It is a native of South America, and is especially numerous along
the river Plata. Usually seen in pairs, it sometimes associates in flocks
of twenty or thirty, and even more have been seen together. Like all the
members of the family, it is a swift-footed and wary bird, but possesses so
little presence of mind that it becomes confused when threatened with
danger, runs aimlessly first in one direction and then in another, thus
giving time for the hunter to come up and shoot it, or bring it to the
ground with his bolas--a terrible weapon, consisting of a cord with a heavy
ball at each end, which is flung at the bird, and winds around its neck and
legs so as to entangle it.
For our knowledge of the Rhea and its habits, we are chiefly indebted to
Mr. Darwin, and we shall use his language in this account of the bird. He
says it is found also in Paraguay, but is not common. The birds generally
prefer running against the wind, yet, at the instant, they expand their
wings and, like a vessel, make all sail. "On one fine hot day I saw several
Ostriches enter a bed of tall rocks, where they squatted concealed till
nearly approached."
It is not generally known that Ostriches readily take to the water. Mr.
King says that at Patagonia and at Pont Valdez he saw these birds swimming
several times from island to island. They ran into the water both when
driven down to a point, and likewise of their own accord, when not
frightened.
Natives readily distinguish, even at a distance, the male bird from the
female. The former is larger and darker colored, and has a larger head. It
emits a singular deep-toned hissing note. Darwin, when he first heard it,
thought it was made by some wild beast. It is such a sound that one cannot
tell whence it comes, nor from how far distant.
"When we were at Bahia Blanca, in the months of September and October, the
eggs of the Rhea were found in extraordinary numbers all over the country.
They either lie scattered singly, in which case they are never hatched, or
they are collected together into a hollow excavation which forms the nest.
Out of the four nests which I saw, three contained twenty-two eggs each,
and the fourth twenty-seven. The Gauchos unanimously affirm, and there is
no reason to doubt their statement, that the male bird alone hatches the
eggs, and that he for some time afterward, accompanies the young. The cock
while in the nest lies very close; I have myself almost ridden over one. It
is asserted that at such times they are occasionally fierce, and even
dangerous, and that they have been known to attack a man on horseback,
trying to kick and leap on him."
The skylight in the roof of the apartment in which two Ostriches were kept
in the Garden of Plants, Paris, having been broken, the glaziers were sent
to repair it, and in the course of their work let fall a piece of glass.
Not long after this the female Ostrich was taken ill, and died after an
hour or two in great agony. The body was opened, and the throat and stomach
were, found to have been dreadfully cut by the sharp corners of the glass
which she had swallowed. From the moment his companion died the male bird
had no rest; he appeared to be continually searching for something, and
daily wasted away. He was removed from the spot, in the hope that he would
forget his grief; he was even allowed more liberty, but in vain, and at
length he mourned himself to death.
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