The only nest which the female makes, is a hole which she scratches in the sand, and which is studiously con cealed in the most retired situation which she can find. It is about three feet in diameter ; and the sand is raised to the height of a few inches ; the whole being surrounded by a small furrow for the reception of the rain water. Each female usually deposits about twelve or fifteen eggs; and the incubation lasts about six weeks. It has been commonly believed that the mother, after confiding her eggs to the sand, and covering them up, leaves them to be hatched by the heat of the climate, and abandons her offspring to their own devices. Recent travellers have, however, assured us, that no bird whatever has a stronger affection for her young than the ostrich, and that none watch their eggs with greater assiduity. It happens, possibly, that in burning sands there is less necessity for the continual sitting of the female, and that she may fre quently leave her eggs without any risk of their being chilled : but, though she sometimes forsakes them by day, she always carefully broods over them by night : and Kolben, who saw great numbers of this species at the Cape of Good Hope, affirms that they sit on their eggs like other birds, and that the males and females take the office by turns, as he had frequent opportunities of observing. Nor is it more consistent with fact, that they forsake the young as soon as the latter are excluded from the shell ; for they are, on the contrary, very assiduous in supplying them with grass and water before they are able to walk ; and they will defend them from harm even at the risk of every danger to themselves. The females which are united to one male, deposit all their eggs in the same place, which they hatch all together, the male taking his turn of sitting on them. Unaware of this circumstance, Linne had as serted, that one female sometimes lays near fifty eggs. Levaillant informs us, that he started an ostrich from its nest, in which he found eleven eggs, quite warm, and four others at a little distance from them. Those in the nest had young in them ; but his attendants eagerly caught up the detached ones, assuring him that they were per fectly good to eat, for that near the nest were always placed a certain number of eggs which the birds do not sit upon, and which are designed for the first nourishment of the future progeny. "Experience," adds this enterprising traveller, " has convinced me of the truth of this observa tion ; for I never afterwards met with an ostrich's nest without finding eggs disposed in this manner, at a small distance from it. Some time after, he happened to en counter a female ostrich on a nest which contained thirty two eggs, and twelve more were arranged at an inconsi derable interval, each in a separate cavity formed for it. He remained near the place for some time, and saw three females come and alternately seat themselves on the nest, each sitting for about a quarter of an hour, and then giving place to another, who, while waiting, sat close by the side of her whom she was to succeed. It is alleged, however, that immediately under the torrid zone little or no incu bation is required ; but, even in that case, the parents are the tender and faithful nurses and guardians of their young, which they watch with unceasing concern. When
surprised by men, they will run a little way from the nest, describe circular movements, and expand their feathers, with a view to withdraw attention from their charge. The eggs are very large, hard, and heavy, and will sometimes weigh about three pounds each, of a dirty white, marbled with light yellow. They are reckoned a delicate article of food, and are dressed in different ways for the table. Owing to the thickness and strength of their shell, they are easily preserved for a great length of time, even at sea, and without the trouble of constantly turning them. At the Cape of Good Hope they are usually sold for about sixpence a-piece ; and from their large size, one of them will serve two or three persons at a meal. Within them are often found a number of oval-shaped pebbles, of the size of a marrow-fat pea, of a pale yellow hue, and ex ceedingly hard, which are frequently set, and used for buttons. Mr. Barrow says, that he saw in one egg nine, and in another twelve of these concretions. The shell is made into drinking cups, and other utensils, and is often set in silver, or gold, being very hard, and equal in ap pearance to the finest ivory. It is also cut into small pieces, and used for ornamental purposes. The entire shells, suspended in the domes, or arches, are among the more ordinary decorations of the mosques and of the churches of the eastern Christians ; and they are used as objects of dress by the Hottentots. When the Nasamones, a people of Lybia, went to war, they had their breasts co vered with ostrich hides, as some tribes of Arabs have at this day The caravans of Nubia convey to Cairo quantities of the plucked skins of these birds, which form a very thick leather. The long white feathers of the wings and tail are in great request for parade dress, even in Europe, and form an important article of traffic at Constantinople ; they are also worked into elegant fans ; but it is painful to reflect that they are most valued when plucked from the live bird. The ostrich has usually a considerable layer of fat about the intestines. 'When the Arabs kill one, they make an opening in the throat, under which they tie a ligature, and agitate the bird with violence ; they then unbind the ligature, when a large quantity of fatty, bloody, and oily matter comes out. This they use in the prepa ration of their dishes, and apply it in cases of rheumstism and paralysis. According to Pliny, the Romans employed it for the same purposes, and set a high value on it. In regard to the flesh of the ostrich, it is reported to be no savoury dish ; but various tribes of Africans eat it with out scruple ; and, in ancient times, whole nations of Arabia were denominated Strzaholihugi, though now they abstain from it, Mahomet having adopted the NIosaical doctrine of its being unclean. The young are preferred to the full grown birds ; and the females to the males. The Ro mans introduced the ostrich at their repasts ; Apicius has described the mode of dressing it ; and Heliogabalus ex hibited, at a single feast, the brains of six hundred of these birds !