or more in a feafon ; thefe Ihe is faid so bury in the fand, and to
be hatched by the heat of the fun only, and that the young
run as foon as they come out of the egg : though others deny
this j for Kolbeti fays, that the male and female fit on them by
turns, and that he has feen them hatching their eggs hundreds
of times, and as often driven them off, and took the eggs, to
feafl: himfelf and his friends (and fome of them were near hatching)
; one of them proves a meal for three or four perfons, and
they are faid to be very good. The young, he fays, cannot run
-at firft, but are fupplied by the old ones with grafs and water,
and defended by them, till they can take care of themfelves, fo
furioufly as to render it dangerous to go near them at fuch
times. I f the eggs .be touched, the old ones will forfake them *.
This bird, as well as Jize, is alfo endued with Jlrength in
proportion j for inftances are recorded where one has borne two
men on its back, and has run along with them with the greateft
eafe f .
The food of the OJlrich is of the vegetable kind, grafs, fruits,
grain, &c. befides which it is frequently obferved to fwallow
many foreign articles, as bits of iron, coffer, glafs, lead, and the
like i bu.t though this is often done with impunity, yet it is feen
* Buffon allows that the OJlrich fcarce ever lofes light of the eggs; hot that it
is only in the more northern parts that the fernale has occaiion to lit on them ;
in the torrid zone, the fun alone being fully fuificien t. This may account for
the politive alfertion of Kolhen, that the OJlrich hatches her own eggs, as well
as the opinion of others, who maintain the contrary.
' t Adanfox.— He thinks that their pace is fwifter than that of the fleeted horfe.
■ Voy. Seneg. -p. 87.— <( Whilfl I was here (at Vintain), I faw an OJlrich with a
man riding on it’s back, who was going down to the fort, it being a prefent to
the Governor.” Moore's Trans. into Africa, p. 318.
in the end to prove fatal *, as it can by no means digeft them.
Some authors fay, that the young birds are pretty good food.
The natives catch them by following at a diftance for two or
three days, when the birds, fatigued by being perpetually har-
rafied, and wanting time to take food, are very eafily overtaken,
and knocked on the head with clubs: others conceal themfelves
in a Ikin of one of thefe birds, and by that means approach near
enough to furprize them ; and it is not unufual to hunt them on
horfeback with dogs, and after overtaking them, the buntfman approaches
near enough to apply the hooked end of a ftaff round
the legs, which throwing them down, they are knocked on the
head +, or taken alive.
The ufes which the OJlrich is put to are various. The fkins
are very thick, and are fubftituted for leather by the Arabians:
as to feathers, the value of them, and the purpofes they are put
to, need not be mentioned. The fat% is of medicinal ufe among
the Arabians, for the falfy and rheumatifm, and is alfo prefcribed
inwardly. The eggs ferve for drinking-cufs, and other utenlils,
and are often let in gold for that purpofe; they are very hard
and durable, and equal in appearance to the moft beautiful
ivory. In the Eaft alfo, the Ihells both of the OJlrich and Cajfo-
wary ferve as a medicine §.
# Pitfield's Mem. p. 226.
+ I remember to have feen a painting, which reprefented this method very
jullly. , 1
* " They have a met}lod of putting the dead body of the O f rich in motion,
‘ in fuch a manner, as to make the f a t diflolve into a kind of oil, which they
S feU as a/ " f> and is called ‘he/*/ of the OJlrich.” Pococi. Trans. i. p. 209.—
.Theusexot, in his Voyages, mentions the fame thing.
§ See Faux. Arab, Mater. Med. N° 6.
V ol. III. c G ehus