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OSTRICH

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Originally appearing in Volume V20, Page 362 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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OSTRICH (O. Eng. estridge; Fr. autruche; Span. avestruz; See also:

Lat. avis struthio; Gr. o-rpothicev or 6 ,4ryas arpovO6s); the Struthio camelus of See also:Linnaeus, and the largest of living birds, an adult male See also:standing nearly 8 ft. high and weighing 300 lb. The genus Struthio forms the type of the See also:group of Ratite birds, characterized chiefly by large See also:size, See also:breast-See also:bone without a See also:keel, strong See also:running legs, rudimentary wings and See also:simple feathers (see See also:BIRD). The most obvious distinctive See also:character presented by the ostrich is the presence of two toes only, the third and See also:fourth, on each See also:foot--a character absolutely See also:peculiar to the genus Struthio. In See also:South See also:America another large Ratite bird, the See also:rhea, is called ostrich; it can be distinguished at once from the true ostrich by its See also:possession of three toes. B From the Monogr. Palaeont. See also:Soc. ag., Angular. a.d.l., Anterior dorso-lateral. a.m.d., Anterior median dorsal. Anterior ventro-lateral. Central.

Dorsal anconeal. Dorsal articular. Extra lateral. See also:

External marginal. See also:Internal marginal. Lateral. Lateral occipital. in.occ., Median occipital. m.v., Median ventral. mx., Maxilla. o., Ocular. p.d.l., Posterior dorso-lateral. p.m., Pre-median. p.m.d.,Po sterior dorsal p.v.l., Posterior ventro-lateral. pt.m., See also:Post-median.

s.l., Semilunar. t., Terminal. v.a., Ventral anconeal. v.ar., Ventral articular. a.v.l., c., d.a., d.ar., e.l., e.m., i.m., l., Lott., in., Median. m.m., Marginals of See also:

lower See also:limb. median during fossilization. They agree with fishes in the possession of median fins, and resemble the large See also:majority of See also:early fishes in their unequal-lobed (heterocercal) tail, but they have no See also:ordinary From See also:British Museum, See also:Catalogue of Fossil Fishes, by permission of the Trustees. members of the group. The See also:Ostracoderms are, indeed, known only by the hard See also:armature of the skin, but this sometimes bears impressions of certain internal soft parts which have perished The See also:wild ostrich' is disappearing before the persecution of See also:man, and there are many districts, some of wide extent, frequented by the ostrich in the 19th See also:century—especially towards the extremities of its See also:African range—in which it no longer occurs, while in See also:Asia there is See also:evidence, more or less trustworthy, of its former existence in most parts of the south-western See also:desert-tracts, in few of which it is now to be found. See also:Xenophon's See also:notice of its abundance in See also:Assyria (See also:Anabasis, i. 5) is well known. It is probable that it still lingers in the wastes of See also:Kirwan in eastern See also:Persia, whence examples may occasionally stray See also:north-See also:ward to those of See also:Turkestan,2 even near the Lower See also:Oxus; but the assertion, often repeated, as to its former occurrence in See also:Baluchistan or See also:Sind seems to See also:rest on testimony too slender Ostrich.

for See also:

acceptance. Apparently the most northerly limit of the ostrich's ordinary range at the See also:present See also:day is that portion of the Syrian Desert lying directly eastward of See also:Damascus; and, within the limits of what may be called See also:Palestine, H. B. Tristram (See also:Fauna and See also:Flora of Palestine, p. 139) regards it as but a straggler from central See also:Arabia, though we have little See also:information as to its See also:distribution in that See also:country, See also:Africa is still, as in See also:ancient days, the See also:continent in which the ostrich chiefly flourishes. There it appears to inhabit every See also:waste sufficiently extensive to afford it the solitude it loves. Yet even there it has to contend with the many See also:species of See also:carnivora which See also:prey upon its eggs and See also:young—the latter especially; and H. Lichtenstein See also:long ago remarked3 that if it ' A See also:good See also:summary of the present distribution is contained in the Ostriches and Ostrich Farming of De Mosenthal and Harting, from which the accompanying figure is, with permission, taken. Von See also:Heuglin, in his Ornithologie Nordost-Afrikas (pp. 925-935), and A. Reichenow in See also:Die See also:Vogel Afrikas, have given more particular details of the ostrich's distribution in Africa. 2 Drs Finsch and Hartlaub quote a passage from See also:Remusat's Remarques sur l'See also:extension de l'See also:empire chinoise, stating that in about the 7th century of our era a live " See also:camel-bird " was sent as a present with an See also:embassy from Turkestan to See also:China.

3 H. Lichtenstein, Reise See also:

im siidlichen Africa, ii. 42-45 (See also:Berlin, 1812).were not for its numerous enemies " the multiplication of ostriches would be quite unexampled." Though sometimes assembling in troops of from See also:thirty to fifty, and then generally associating with zebras or with some of the larger antelopes, ostriches commonly, and especially in the breeding See also:season, live in companies of not more than four or five, one of which is a See also:cock and the rest are hens. The latter See also:lay their eggs in one and the same See also:nest, a shallow See also:pit scraped out by their feet, with the See also:earth heaped around to See also:form a See also:kind of See also:wall against which the outermost circle of eggs rest. As soon as ten or a dozen eggs are laid, the cock begins to brood, always taking his See also:place on them at nightfall surrounded by the hens, while by day they relieve one another, more it would seem to guard their See also:common treasure from jackals and small beasts of prey than directly to forward the See also:process of hatching, for that is often See also:left wholly to the See also:sun.' Some thirty eggs are laid in the nest, and See also:round it are scattered perhaps as many more. These last are said to be broken by the old birds to serve as nourishment for the newly-hatched chicks, whose stomachs cannot See also:bear the hard See also:food on which their parents thrive. The greatest care is taken to place the nest where it may not be discovered, and the birds avoid being seen when going to or from.it, while they display See also:great solicitude for their young. C. J. Andersson in his See also:Lake N'gami (pp. 253-269) has given a lively See also:account of the pursuit by himself and See also:Francis See also:Galton of a brood of ostriches, in the course of which the male bird feigned being wounded to distract their See also:attention from his offspring. Though the ostrich ordinarily inhabits the most arid districts, it requires See also:water to drink; more than that, it will frequently bathe, and sometimes even, according to Von Heuglin, in the See also:sea.

The question whether to recognize more than one species of ostrich has been continually discussed without leading to a satisfactory See also:

solution. While eggs from North Africa present a perfectly smooth See also:surface, those from South Africa are pitted. Moreover See also:northern birds have the skin of the parts not covered with feathers flesh-coloured, while this skin is bluish in See also:southern birds, and hence the latter have been thought to need specific designation as S. australis. Examples from the Somali country have been described as forming a distinct species under the name of S. molybdophanes from the leaden See also:colour of their naked parts. The great See also:mercantile value of ostrich-feathers, and the increasing difficulty, due to the causes already mentioned, of procuring them from wild birds, has led to the formation in Cape See also:Colony, See also:Egypt, the See also:French See also:Riviera and elsewhere of numerous " ostrich-farms," on which these birds are kept in confinement, and at See also:regular intervals deprived of their plumes. In favourable localities and with judicious management these establishments yield very considerable profit (see See also:FEATHER). See, besides the See also:works mentioned, E. D'See also:Alton, Die Skelete der Straussartigen Vogel abgebildet and beschrieben (See also:Bonn, 1827), P. L. Sclater, " On the Struthious Birds living in the Zoological Society's See also:Menagerie, " Transactions, iv. p. 353, containing a See also:fine See also:representation (pl. 67), by J.

See also:

Wolf, of the male Struthio camelus; J. See also:Forest, L'Autruche (See also:Paris, 1894) ; A. See also:Douglass, Ostrich Farming in South Africa (See also:London, 1881) ; See also:modern anatomical See also:work on the group is referred to in the See also:article BIRDS. (A.

End of Article: OSTRICH

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