Ostriches and Ostrich Farming

Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: (9) CHAPTER I. THE OSTRICH.? Struthio camelus,1 Linnus. The ostrich ? Brief description of old and young ? Its antiquity as a species ? The ostrich in Scripture and in history ? Assyrian and Egyptian inscriptions relating to it ? Greek and Roman accounts of it ? Ancient use of ostrich plumes as a head-dress ? Whether more than one species of ostrich in Africa ? Struthio australis of Gurney ? Its supposed distinguishing characters ? Difference in the eggs of the Northern and Southern race ? The geographical distribution of the ostrich in ancient and modern times ? The ostrich the camel- bird of the ancients ? The points of resemblance to a camel ? Brief anatomical details ? The fleetness of the ostrich proverbial ?Muscular mechanism of the leg ? Length of stride and speed per hour ? Its haunts and habits ? Its cry ? Food ? Reproduction ? Eggs ? Native use of eggshells ? Value of the feathers ? Various methods of capture ? Ostrich-meat ? Its consumption in ancient and modern times ? Ostrich feathers briefly alluded to ? The consideration of ostrich- farming reserved. The ostrich capable of draught and burden. The existence of live ostriches in almost every zoological garden of note has doubtless rendered the species so familiar to our readers, that any detailed description of its external appearance seems unnecessary. Suffice it to say, that its chief characteristics are a small head with a short, broad, and depressed bill, a long and muscular neck, a robust body with wings incapable of flight, extremely muscular thighs and stout tarsi and feet, the latter having only two toes of unequal length directedanteriorly, the soles of which are furnished with pads or cushions especially adapted to the bird's mode of life. of the Greeks; Struzzo and Struxzolo of t...