STRUTHIO, the ostrich, in natural his tory, a genus of birds of the order Gal ling. Generic character : the bill straight, depressed like that of a duck, and rounded at the end ; wings short, and unfit for flight ; legs naked above the knee ; two toes placed forward. Gmelin enumerates four species of this genus, several of which have characters not a little dissimilar in some points, and such as have induced Brinson and Latham to adopt a different arrangement. Having noticed this circumstance, we shall ad here to the Linnaan system. S. camelus, or the black ostrich, is about eight feet long, and when erect measures about se ven feet, and sometimes eight in height. One was exhibited in London in 1750, weighing three hundred pounds. It is found in various parts of Africa, and about the Cape of Good Hope is particu larly abundant. In the parts of Asia, near Africa, it is also met with. The idea of these birds burying their eggs in the sand, where the sun brings them to ma turity, is contradicted by Kolben, who states that he has driven the ostrich from its nest innumerable times to procure its eggs for food, adding, that these consti tute a most excellent repast, and that one is sufficient for four moderate persons. The ostrich subsists entirely on vegetable productions, but will swallow, occasion ally, the most hard and even sharp and pointed substances. Iron, and various other metals, and even glass, have often been found in its stomach, and have un questionably often proved fatal. It is related, upon respectable authority, that an ostrich will carry a man upon its back, and move with very considerable speed ; some make the same remark with re spect to two men. When unincumbercd by any burden its speed is truly extraordi nary, and will exceed, in some instances, the ordinary rapidity of a horse. Os triches are taken by the natives near the Cape, after a pursuit of two or three days, from mere exhaustion, through which they suffer themselves to be destroyed merely by clubs. Dogs are sometimes employed to hunt them down, followed by men on horseback, who contrive, by means of a long hooked staff, to lay hold of one of the legs of the bird, and thus bring it to the ground. Sometimes they are approached and destroyed by the stratagem of advancing against them in one of the skins of their own species.
They are applied to various purposes. Their feathers form an admirable orna !pent for the ladies: their skins are of suf. ficient thickness to be manufactured for the purposes of leather; the fat part of their bodies is in high, but perhaps fanci ful, estimation in many parts for paralytic and rheumatic complaints; even their eggs are used as goblets, and, if some au thors may be credited, young ostriches constitute an agreeable variety for the ta ble. See Ayes, Plate XIV. fig. 1.
8. casuarius, or the galeated cassowary, is nearly equal in magnitude to the ostrich, but has a much shorter neck, and there fore is greatly inferior in height. On the top of its head is a species of helmet three inches high, and one thick at the base. Each wing, or what appears as such, is destitute of feathers, and has five bare shafts like those of a porcupine, and the body is covered with loose webbed fea thers of a rusty black colour. It is never found beyond the tropical limits, and is no where abundant within them. It is un able to fly, but runs with great speed ; and though it lives only on vegetables and fruits, which it is said to swallow unbro ken, it is courageous, and even some times ferocious, and employs its legs to annoy its adversary by kicking.
8. Nova Hollandia, or the New Holland cassowary, is very similar to the above, but considerably longer.
S. rhea, or the American ostrich, is stated to have been seen by various tra vellers, but no specimen appears to have been received in this country. It is said to bemost numerous in the valleys of the Andes. It subsists partly on fruits, but refuses scarcely any thing that is thrown to it, however inconvenient and perni cious to it. Its favourite food consists of flies, in taking which, it is peculiarly ac. live and skilful. Each of its eggs is sup posed to contain two pounds of fluid, and it lays between fifty and sixty of these. It calls its young ones by a sound ex tremely resembling the whistle of a hu man being, and defends itself by kick ing. Its feathers are in high estimation among the Indians for the embellishment of their persons, and are used in forming ornamental coverings for shade.