O r d e r VI. S T R U T H I O U S.
G e n u s LV I II . O S T R I C H .
D R. Sparrman * is o f opinion that the male and female OJlriçh fît
on the eggs by turns, as in one o f his journies, ip the month
o f December, he frightened a male from the neft, which was made
only on the bare fand, on which the eggs lay fcattered and lpofe ;
they were in number eleven. In another neft fifteen were found ;
and he reafonably concludes, that from fixteen to twenty is the
common number. The ufual weight of the fhell is eleven
ounces s the depth fix inches and a half i and contains five pints
and a quarter o f liquid -, and that the weight o f a frelh egg does
not greatly exceed this. The Hottentots eat the flelh o f the
birds, and the colonifts at the Cape ufe the eggs in pancakes.
The tame Ofirkhes at the Cape have ftrength fufficient to run
along with any one on their back, without feeming to be impeded
by his weight. In the tame ftate, they are apt to be mifchievous,
and will frequently kill the poultry by trampling them under their
feet ; and he mentions an inftance o f one that was obliged to be
killed, having trampled Iheep to death in the fame manner.
• Sparrm, Voy, i, p. 121, 122.
Dxv.
Div.II. W A T E R -B IR D S .
O r d e r VII. W i t h C l o v e n F e e t .
G enus L X I I . J A B I R U .
INDIAN J.
D esckiptiok,
Peace.
N° 2. Indian J.
O I Z E large. Bill dulky, almoft lirait above ; near the forehead
gibbous j the under mandible fwelled beneath : from the bale
o f the bill, palling through and beyond the eye, a black ftreak :
général colour o f the plumage white: lower half of the back,
prime quills, and tail, black : legs pale red.
Inhabits the Eafi Indies, and feeds on /nails.— Lady Impey.
I Genus