in natural history; a genus of birds belonging to the order of Grallae of Linnæus; but, according to the new classification of Dr Latham, it forms, along with the dodo, casuarus, and rheas, a separate order under the name of Struthiones. As the dodo or didus, and rhea, have been already described in their proper place, we will now give some account of the ostrich and cassowary.

I. The Ostrich (the Camelus of Linnæus) has a bill somewhat conical; the wings are so short as to be unfit for flying; the thighs and sides of the body are naked; the feet are formed for running, having two toes, one only of which is furnished with a nail. In this respect it differs entirely from the cassowary, which has three toes complete. The ostrich is without doubt the largest of all birds: it is nearly eight feet in length, and when standing upright from six to eight feet in height. We are told in the Gentleman's Magazine*, that two ostriches were shown * Vol. iii. in London in the year 1750, and that the male was ten feet high, in height, and weighed three hundred weight and a quarter. The head and bill somewhat resemble those of a duck; and the neck may be likened to that of a swan, but that it is much longer; the legs and thighs resemble those of an hen; though the whole appearance bears a strong resemblance to that of a camel. But though usually seven feet high from the top of the head to the ground, from the back it is only four; so that the head and neck are above three feet long. From the top of the head to the rump, when the neck is stretched out in a right line, it is six feet long, and the tail is about a foot more. One of the wings, without the feathers, is a foot and an half; and being stretched out, with the feathers, is three feet.

The plumage is much alike in all; that is, generally black and white; though some of them are said to be grey. There are no feathers on the sides, nor yet on the thighs, nor under the wings. The lower part of the neck, about half way, is covered with still smaller feathers than those on the belly and back; and those also are of different colours.

All these feathers are of the same kind, and peculiar to the ostrich; for other birds have several sorts, some of which are soft and downy, and others hard and strong. Ostrich-feathers are almost all as soft as down, being utterly unfit to serve the animal for flying, and still less adapted to be a proper defence against external injury. The feathers of other birds have the webs broader on one side than the other, but those of the ostrich have their shaft exactly in the middle. The upper part of the head and neck are covered with a very fine clear white hair, that shines like the bristles of a hog; and in some places there are small tufts of it, consisting of about 12 hairs, which grow from a single shaft about the thickness of a pin.

At the end of each wing there is a kind of spur almost like the quill of a porcupine. It is an inch long, being hollow and of an horny substance. There are two of these on each wing; the largest of which is at the extremity of the bone of the wing, and the other a foot lower. The neck seems to be more slender in proportion to that of other birds, from its not being furnished with feathers. The skin in this part is of a livid flesh-colour, which some, improperly, would have to be blue. The bill is short and pointed, and two inches and an half at the beginning. The external form of the eye is like that of a man, the upper eyelid being adorned with eye-lashes which are longer than those on the lid below. The tongue is small, very short, and composed of cartilages, ligaments, and membranes, intermixed with fleshy fibres. In some it is about an inch long, and very thick at the bottom; in others it is but half an inch, being a little forked at the end.

The thighs are very fleshy and large, being covered with a white skin inclining to redness, and wrinkled in the manner of a net, whose meshes will admit the end of the finger. Some have very small feathers here and there on the thighs; and others again have neither feathers nor wrinkles. What are called the legs of birds, in this are covered before with large scales. The end of the foot is cloven, and has two very large toes, which, like the leg, are covered with scales. These toes are of unequal sizes. The largest, which is on the inside, is seven inches long, including the claw, which is near three-fourths of an inch in length, and almost as broad. The other toe is but four inches long, and is without a claw.

The internal parts of this animal are formed with no less surprising peculiarity. At the top of the breast, under the skin, the fat is two inches thick; and on the fore-part of the belly it is as hard as flint, and about two inches and an half thick in some places. It has two distinct stomachs. The first, which is lowermost, in its natural situation somewhat resembles the crop in other birds; but it is considerably larger than the other stomach, and is furnished with strong muscular fibres, as well circular as longitudinal. The second stomach or gizzard has outwardly the shape of the stomach of a man; and upon opening is always found filled with a variety of discordant substances; hay, grass, barley, beans, bones, and stones, some of which exceed in size a pullet's egg. The kidneys are eight inches long and two broad, and differ from those of other birds in not being divided into lobes. The heart and lungs are separated by a midriff as in quadrupeds; and the parts of generation also bear a very strong resemblance and analogy.

The ostrich is a native only of the torrid regions of Africa, and has long been celebrated by those who have had occasion to mention the animals of that region. Its flesh is prescribed in Scripture as unfit to be eaten; and most of the ancient writers describe it as well known in their times. Like the race of the elephant, it is transmitted down without mixture; and has never been known to breed out of that country which first produced it. It seems formed to live among the sandy and burning deserts of the torrid zone; and, as in some measure it owes its birth to their genial influence, so it seldom migrates into tracts more mild or more fertile. The Arabians assert that the ostrich never drinks; and the place of its habitation seems to confirm the afflication. In these formidable regions ostriches are seen in large flocks, which to the distant spectator appear like a regiment of cavalry, and have often alarmed a whole caravan. There is no desert, how barren soever, but what is capable of supplying these animals with provision; they eat almost every thing; and these barren tracts are thus doubly grateful, as they afford both food and security. The ostrich is of all other animals the most voracious. It will devour leather, grass, hair, iron, stones, or any thing that is given. Those substances which the coats of the stomach cannot soften, pass whole; so that glass, stones, or iron, are excluded in the form in which they were devoured. In an ostrich dissected by Ramby, there appeared such a quantity of heterogeneous substances, that it was wonderful how any animal could digest such an overcharge of nourishment. Valinieri also found the first stomach filled with a quantity of incongruous substances; grass, nuts, cords, stones, glass, bricks, copper, iron, tin, lead, and wood; a piece of stone was found among the rest that weighed more than a pound. He saw one of these animals that was killed by devouring a quantity of quicklime. It would seem that the ostrich is obliged to fill up the great capacity of its stomach in order to be at ease; but that nutritious substances not occurring, it pours in whatever offers to supply the void.

In their native deserts, however, it is probable they live chiefly upon vegetables, where they lead an inoffensive and social life; the male, as Thevenot affirms us, affording with the female with conjugal fidelity. They are said to be very much inclined to veneration; and the make of the parts in both sexes seems to confirm the report. It is probable also they copulate like other birds, by compulsion. They lay very large eggs, some of them being above five inches in diameter, and weighing above fifteen pounds. These eggs have a very hard shell, somewhat resembling those of the crocodile, except that those of the latter are less and rounder.

The season for laying depends on the climate where the animal is bred. In the northern parts of Africa, this season is about the beginning of July; in the south, it is about the latter end of December. These birds are very prolific, and lay generally from 40 to 50 eggs at one clutch, which are as big as a child's head. It has been commonly reported, that the female deposits them in the sand, and covering them up, leaves them to be hatched by the heat of the climate, and then permits the young to shift for themselves. Very little of this, however, is true: no bird has a stronger affection for her young than the ostrich, nor none watches her eggs with greater assiduity. It happens, indeed, in those hot climates, that there is less necessity for the continual incubation of the female; and she more frequently leaves her eggs, which are in no danger of being chilled by the weather: but though she sometimes forsakes them by day, she always carefully broods over them by night; and Kolben, who has seen great numbers of them at the Cape of Good Hope, affirms, that they sit on their eggs like other birds, and that the male and the female take this office by turns, as he had frequent opportunities of observing. Nor is it more true what is said of their forsaking their young after they are excluded the shell. On the contrary, the young ones are not even able to walk for several days after they are hatched. During this time the old ones are very attentive in supplying them with grass, and very careful to defend them from danger; nay, they encounter every danger in their defence. The young, when brought forth, are of an ash-colour the first year, and are covered with feathers all over. But in time these feathers drop; and those parts which Struthia, which are covered assume a different and more becoming plumage.

The beauty of a part of this plumage, particularly the long feathers that compose the wings and tail, is the chief reason that man has been so active in pursuing this harmless bird to its defects, and hunting it with no small degree of expense and labour. The ancients used these plumes in their helmets; our military wear them in their hats; and the ladies make them an ornament in their dresses. These feathers which are plucked from the animal while alive are much more valued than those taken when dead, the latter being dry, light, and subject to be worm-eaten.

Beside the value of their plumage, some of the savage nations of Africa hunt them also for their flesh; which they consider as a dainty. They sometimes also breed these birds tame, to eat the young ones, of which the females are said to be the greatest delicacy. Some nations have obtained the name of Struthophagi, or ostrich eaters, from their peculiar fondness for this food; and even the Romans themselves were not averse to it. Even among the Europeans now, the eggs of the ostrich are said to be well-tasted, and extremely nourishing; but they are too scarce to be fed upon, although a single egg be a sufficient entertainment for eight men.

As the spoils of the ostrich are thus valuable, it is not to be wondered at that man has become their most avidious pursuer. For this purpose, the Arabians train up their best and fleetest horses, and hunt the ostrich still in view. Perhaps, of all other varieties of the chase, this, though the most laborious, is yet the most entertaining. As soon as the hunter comes within sight of his prey, he puts on his horse with a gentle gallop, so as to keep the ostrich still in sight; yet not so as to terrify him from the plain into the mountains. Of all known animals, the ostrich is by far the swiftest in running; upon observing himself, therefore, pursued at a distance, he begins to run at first but gently; either insensible of his danger, or sure of escaping. In this situation, he somewhat resembles a man at full speed; his wings, like two arms, keep working with a motion correspondent to that of his legs; and his speed would very soon snatch him from the view of his pursuers; but, unfortunately for the silly creature, instead of going off in a direct line, he takes his course in circles; while the hunters still make a small course within, relieve each other, meet him at unexpected turns, and keep him thus still employed, till followed, for two or three days together. At last, spent with fatigue and famine, and finding all power of escape impossible, he endeavours to hide himself from those enemies he cannot avoid, and covers his head in the sand or the first thicket he meets. Sometimes, however, he attempts to face his pursuers; and though in general the most gentle animal in nature, when driven to desperation he defends himself with his beak, his wings, and his feet. Such is the force of his motion, that a man would be utterly unable to withstand him in the flock.

The Struthophaigi have another method of taking this bird: they cover themselves with an ostrich's skin, and passing up an arm through the neck, thus counterfeiting all the motions of this animal. By this artifice they approach the ostrich, which becomes an easy prey. He is sometimes also taken by dogs and nets; but the most usual way is that mentioned above.

When the Arabians have thus taken an ostrich, they cut its throat; and making a ligament below the opening, they shake the bird as one would rinse a barrel; then taking off the integument, there runs out from the wound in the throat a considerable quantity of blood mixed with the fat of the animal; and this is considered as one of their greatest dainties.

They next flea the bird; and of the skin, which is strong and thick, sometimes make a kind of vest, which answers the purposes of a cuirass and a buckler.

There are others who, more compassionate or more provident, do not kill their captive, but endeavour to tame it, for the purposes of supplying those feathers which are in so great request. The inhabitants of Dara and Lybia breed up whole flocks of them, and they are tamed with very little trouble. But it is not for their feathers alone that they are prized in this domestic state; they are often ridden upon and used as horses. Moore assures us, that at Joar he saw a man travelling upon an ostrich; and Adamson affirms, that at the factory of Podore he had two ostriches, which were then young, the strongest of which ran swifter than the best English racer, although he carried two negroes on his back. As soon as the animal perceived that it was thus loaded, it set off running with all its force, and made several circuits round the village; till at length the people were obliged to stop it by barring up the way. How far this strength and swiftness may be useful to mankind, even in a polished state, is a matter that perhaps deserves inquiry.

II. The Cassowary (the Casuarius of Linnaeus, and Gauleated Caffowary of Dr Latham) was first brought into Europe from Java by the Dutch about the year 1597. It is nearly equal in size to the ostrich, but its legs are much thicker and stronger in proportion. This conformation gives it an air of strength and force, which the fierceness and singularity of its countenance conspire to render formidable. It is five feet and an half long from the point of the bill to the extremity of the claws. The legs are two feet and an half high from the belly to the end of the claws. The head and neck together are a foot and an half; and the largest toe, including the claw, is five inches long. The claw alone of the least toe is three inches and a half in length. The wing is so small that it does not appear, it being hid under the feathers of the back. In other birds, a part of the feathers serve for flight, and are different from those that serve merely for covering; but in the cailowary all the feathers are of the same kind, and outwardly of the same colour. They are generally double, having two long shafts, which grow out of a short one, which is fixed in the skin. Those that are double are always of an unequal length; for some are 14 inches long, particularly on the rump, while others are not above three. The beards that adorn the stem or shaft are about half-way to the end, very long, and as thick as an horse-hair, without being subdivided into fibres. The stem or shaft is flat, thinning, black, and knotted below; and from each knot there proceeds a beard; likewise the beards at the end of the large feathers are perfectly black, and towards the root of a grey tawny colour; shorter, more soft, and throwing out fine fibres like down; so that nothing appears except the ends, which are hard and black; because the other part, composed of down, is quite covered. There are feathers on the head and neck; but they are so short and thinly sown, that the bird's skin appears naked, except towards the hinder part of the head, where they are a little longer. The feathers which adorn the rump are extremely thick; but do not differ in other respects from the rest, excepting their being longer. The wings, when they are deprived of their feathers, are but three inches long; and the feathers are like those on other parts of the body. The ends of the wings are adorned with five pricks, of different lengths and thicknesses, which bend like a bow: these are hollow from the roots to the very points, having only that slight substance within which all quills are known to have. The longest of these pricks is 11 inches; and it is a quarter of an inch in diameter at the root, being thicker there than towards the extremity; the point seems broken off. The part, however, which most distinguishes this animal is the head; which, though small, like that of an ostrich, does not fail to inspire some degree of terror. It is bare of feathers, and is in a manner armed with a helmet of horny substance, that covers it from the root of the bill to near half the head backwards. This helmet is black before and yellow behind. Its substance is very hard, being formed by the elevation of the bone of the skull; and it consists of several plates, one over another, like the horn of an ox. Some have supposed that this was shed every year with the feathers; but the most probable opinion is, that it only exfoliates slowly like the beak. To the peculiar oddity of this natural armour may be added the colour of the eye in this animal, which is a bright yellow; and the globe being above an inch and a half in diameter, give it an air equally fierce and extraordinary. The hole of the ear is very large and open, being only covered with small black feathers. The sides of the head, about the eye and ear, being destitute of any covering, are blue, except the middle of the lower eyelid, which is white. The part of the bill which answers to the upper jaw in other animals is very hard at the edges above, and the extremity of it is like that of a turkey-cock. The end of the lower mandible is slightly notched, and the whole is of a greyish brown, except a green spot on each side. As the beak admits a very wide opening, this contributes not a little to the bird's menacing appearance. The neck is of a violet colour, inclining to that of slate; and it is red behind in several places, but chiefly in the middle. About the middle of the neck before, at the rise of the large feathers, there are two processes formed by the skin, which resemble somewhat the gills of a cock, but that they are blue as well as red. The skin which covers the forepart of the breast, on which this bird leans and rests, is hard, callous, and without feathers. The thighs and legs are covered with feathers, and are extremely thick, strong, straight, and covered with scales of several shapes; but the legs are thicker a little above the foot than in any other place. The toes are likewise covered with scales, and are but three in number; for that which should be behind is wanting. The claws are of a hard solid substance, black without and white within.

The internal parts are equally remarkable. The cawfowary unites with the double stomach of animals that live upon vegetables the short intestines of those that live upon flesh. The intestines of the cawfowary are 13 times shorter than those of the ostrich. The heart is very small, being but an inch and an half long, and an inch broad at the base. Upon the whole, it has the head of a warrior, the eye of a lion, the defence of a porcupine, and the swiftness of a courier.

Thus formed for a life of hostility, for terrifying others, and for its own defense, it might be expected that the cawfowary was one of the most fierce and terrible animals of the creation. But nothing is so opposite to its natural character: it never attacks others; and instead of the bill, when attacked, it rather makes use of its legs, and kicks like a horse, or runs against its pursuer, beats him down, and treads him to the ground.

The manner in which this animal moves is not less extraordinary than its appearance. Instead of going directly forward, it seems to kick up behind with one leg; and then making a bound onward with the other, it goes with such prodigious velocity, that the swiftest racer would be left far behind.

The same degree of voracity which we perceived in the ostrich obtains as strongly here. The cawfowary swallows every thing that comes within the capacity of its gullet. The Dutch assert, that it can devour not only glass, iron, and stones, but even live and burning coals, without terrifying the smallest fear or feeling the least injury. It is said, that the passage of the food through its gullet is performed so speedily, that even the very eggs which it has swallowed whole pass through it unbroken in the same form they went down. In fact, the alimentary canal of this animal, as was observed above, is extremely short; and it may happen, that many kinds of food are indigestible in its stomach, as wheat or currants are to man, when swallowed whole.

The cawfowary's eggs are of a greyish colour, inclining to green. They are not so large nor so round as those of the ostrich. They are marked with a number of little tubercles of a deep green, and the shell is not very thick. The largest of these is found to be 15 inches round one way, and about 12 the other.

The southern parts of the most eastern Indies seem to be the natural climate of the cawfowary. His domain, if we may so call it, begins where that of the ostrich terminates. The latter has never been found beyond the Ganges; while the cawfowary is never seen nearer than the islands of Banda, Sumatra, Java, the Molucca islands, and the corresponding parts of the continent. Yet even here this animal seems not to have multiplied in any considerable degree, as we find one of the kings of Java making a present of one of these birds to the captain of a Dutch ship, considering it as a very great rarity.

2. The *Casuarius Novae Hollandiae*, or New Holland cawfowary, differs considerably from the common cawfowary. It is a much larger bird, standing higher on its legs, and having the neck longer than in the common one. Total length seven feet two inches. The bill is not greatly different from that of the common cawfowary; but the horny appendage or helmet on the top of the head in this species is totally wanting: the whole of the head and neck is also covered with feathers, except the throat and fore part of the neck about half way, which are not so well feathered as the rest; whereas in the common cawfowary the head and neck are bare and carunculated as in the turkey.

The plumage in general consists of a mixture of brown and grey, and the feathers are somewhat curled or bent at the ends in the natural state; the wings are so very short as to be totally useless for flight, and indeed are scarcely to be distinguished from the rest of the plumage, were it not for their standing out a little. The long spines which are seen in the wings of the common sort are in this not observable, nor is there any appearance of a tail. The legs are stout, formed much as in the galatea cawfowary, with the addition of their being jagged or sawed the whole of their length at the back part.

This bird is not uncommon in New Holland, as several of them have been seen about Botany Bay and other parts. Although it cannot fly, it runs so swiftly, that a greyhound can scarcely overtake it. The flesh is said to be in taste not unlike beef.