THE general color of the upper part of the body and wings in the Californian quail, is of a dusky brown, assuming a leaden or slaty tinge on the tail, and on the fore part of the breast, upon which it advances in the form of a broad band. The fore part of the head is of a mixed ash gray, and the hinder part blackish brown,

BIRDS of this order have the bill shorter than the head, or the same length; strong, robust, upper mandible convex, and often hooked at the point; tarsus long and slender; three toes before and one behind; the hind toe articulated higher up than those before.

THE HORNED SCREAMER 2

Is a native of Brazil. This is a water-fowl of the rapacious kind, and bigger than a swan. The head, which is small for the size of the body, bears

1 Perdix californica, LATH.

2 Palamedea cornuta, LATH. The genus palamedea has the bill short, conico-convex, much curved at the point, compressed throughout its length; nasal furrow large; head small, covered with down, and around with a slender flexible horn; nostrils remote from the base of the bill, lateral, oval, open; legs short, thick; toes very long, the lateral connected with the intermediate by a short membrane; wings ample, and spurs on the winglets.

a black bill, which is not above two inches long; but what distinguishes it in particular is a horn growing from the forehead as long as the bill, and bending forward like that of the fabulous unicorn of the ancients. This horn is not much thicker than a crow-quill, as round as if turned in a lathe, and of an ivory color. But this is not the only instrument of battle this formidable bird carries; it seems to be armed at all points; for at the forepart of each wing, at the second joint, spring two straight triangular spurs, about as thick as one's little finger; the foremost of these goads or spurs is above an inch long; the hinder is shorter, and both of a dusky color. The claws also are long and sharp; the color is a mixed black, gray, and white, with a little yellow in some places; and they make a very loud noise, often repeating the notes wyhu, wyhu. They are never found alone, but always in pairs; the cock and hen prowl together; and their fidelity is said to be such, that when one dies, the other never departs from the carcass, but dies with its companion. It makes its nest of clay, near the bodies of trees, upon the ground, of the shape of an oven. There is another species of screamer,

which is crested and without the horn.

BIRDS of this order have the bill middle sized, or short; legs long, naked above the knee; and with only two or three toes, directed forward. These birds live always in the fields, and most frequently in desart places remote from woods.

THE OSTRICH1

Is generally considered as the largest of birds, but its size serves to deprive it of the principal excellence of this class of animals, the power of flying. The medium weight of this bird may be estimated at seventy-five or eighty pounds, a weight which would require an immense power of wing to elevate into the atmosphere; and hence all those of the feathered kind which approach to the size of the ostrich, such as the touyou, the cassowary, the dodo, neither possess, nor can possess, the faculty of flight. The head and bill of the ostrich somewhat resemble those of the duck; and the neck may be compared to that of a swan, but that it is much longer; the legs and thighs resemble those of a hen; though the whole appearance at a distance bears a strong resemblance to that of a camel; it is usually seven feet high

1 Struthio camelus, LIN. This is the only one of the genus.. Its characteristics are— a bill obtuse, straight, depressed at the tip, which is rounded and unguiculated; mandibles equal and flexible; nostrils near the middle of the bill; legs very long, robust, and muscular, with only two strong toes directed forward, but the inner much shorter than the outer; the former provided with a large and blunt claw, the latter clawless; tibia very fleshy to the knee; wings unfit for flight, being composed of long, soft, and flexible festhers, and armed with a double spur.

from the top of the head to the ground; but from the back it is only four; so that the head and neck are above three feet long. Some reach the height of nine feet. From the top of the head to the rump, when the neck is stretched out in a right line, it is six feet long, and the tail is about a foot more. One of the wings, without the feathers, is a foot and a half; and being stretched out, with the feathers, is three feet.

The plumage is much alike in all; that is, generally black and white;

though some of them are said to be gray. The greatest feathers are at the extremities of the wings and tail, and the largest are generally white. The next row is black and white; and of the small feathers on the back and belly, some are white and others black. There are no feathers on the sides, nor yet on the thighs, nor under the wings. The lower part of the neck, about half way, is covered with still smaller feathers than those on the belly

and back; and those, like the former, also are of different colors. The head and upper part of the neck are covered with hair.

At the end of each wing there is a kind of spur, almost like the quill of a porcupine. It is an inch long, being hollow, and of a horny substance. There are two of these on each wing; the largest of which is at the extremity of the bone of the wing, and the other a foot lower. The neck seems to be more slender in proportion to that of other birds, from its not being furnished with feathers.

The thighs are very fleshy and large, being covered with a white skin, inclining to redness, and wrinkled in the manner of a net, whose meshes will admit the end of a finger. Some have very small feathers here and there on the thighs; and others again have neither feathers nor wrinkles. The legs are covered before with scales. The end of the foot is cloven, and has two very large toes, which, like the leg, are covered with scales. These toes are of equal sizes. The largest, which is on the inside, is seven inches long, including the claw, which is near three fourths of an inch in length, and almost as broad. The other toe is but four inches long, and is without a claw.

The ostrich is a native only of the torrid regions of Africa and Arabia, and has never bred out of those countries which first produced it. Though, however, the climate of France be much less warm than that of Barbary, yet some ostriches have been known to lay in the royal menagerie at Versailles; but the gentlemen of the Academy have in vain attempted to make these eggs produce by an artificial process. This bird, so disqualified for society with man, inhabits, from preference, the most solitary and horrid deserts, where there are few vegetables to clothe the surface of the earth, and where the rain never comes to refresh it. The Arabians assert that the ostrich never drinks; and the place of its habitation seems to confirm the assertion. In these formidable regions ostriches are seen in large flocks, which to the distant spectator appear like a regiment of cavalry, and have often alarmed a whole caravan. There is no desert, how barren soever, but is capable of supplying these animals with provision; they eat almost every thing; and these barren tracts are thus doubly grateful, as they afford both food and security. In Southern Africa they are exceedingly injurious to the farmers, as they will destroy a field of wheat so effectually as not to leave a single ear behind; and this operation they perform without danger to themselves, as they are so vigilant and so swift, that it is almost impossible to get a shot at them. The ostrich is of all animals the most voracious. It will devour leather, grass, hair, iron, stones, or any thing that is given. Nor are its powers of digestion less in such things as are digestible. Those substances which the coats of the stomach cannot soften, pass whole; so that glass, stones, or iron, are excluded in the form in which they are devoured. All metals, indeed, which are swallowed by any animal, lose a part of their weight, and often the extremities of their figure, from the

action of the juices of the stomach upon their surface. A quarter pistole, which was swallowed by a duck, lost seven grains of its weight in the gizzard before it was voided; and it is probable that a still greater diminution of weight would happen in the stomach of an ostrich. Considered in this light, therefore, this animal may be said to digest iron; but such substances seldom remain long enough in the stomach of any animal to undergo so tedious a dissolution. The ostrich lays very large eggs, some of them being above five inches in diameter, and weighing above five pounds. These eggs have a very hard shell, somewhat resembling those of the crocodile, except that those of the latter are less and rounder. It is a curious fact, that these eggs often contain a number of small, exceedingly hard, oval-shaped pebbles, about the size of a marrowfat pea, and of a yellow color. They are sometimes set, and used as buttons.

The season for laying depends upon the climate; in the northern parts of Africa it is about the beginning of July; in the south, it is about the latter end of December. These birds are very prolific, and lay generally from thirty to forty eggs in a season, and about twelve at one clutch. It has been commonly reported that the female deposits them in the sand; and, covering them up, leaves them to be hatched by the heat of the climate, and then permits the young to shift for themselves. Very little of this however is true; no bird has a stronger affection for her young than the ostrich, and none watches her eggs with greater assiduity. It happens, indeed, in those hot climates, that there is less necessity for the continual incubation of the female; and she more frequently leaves her eggs, which are in no fear of being chilled by the weather: but though she sometimes forsakes them by day, she always carefully broods over them by night; nor is it more true that they forsake their young after they are excluded from the shell. On the contrary, the young ones are not even able to walk for several days after they are hatched. During this time, the old ones are very assiduous in supplying them with grass, and very careful to defend them from danger; nay, they encounter every danger in their defence.

The strength and size of the ostrich has suggested to men the experiment of using them as animals of burthen. The tyrant Firmius, who reigned in Egypt about the end of the third century, was frequently carried by large ostriches. Moore, an English traveller, relates that he had seen at Joar, in Africa, a man travelling on an ostrich. And Vallisnieri speaks of a young man, who exhibited himself upon one of these birds at Venice. In fine, M. Adanson saw, at the factory at Podor, two ostriches, which were yet young, of which the stronger went at a pace which would have distanced the fleetest English racehorse, with two negroes on its back. Whether this bird could be broken and tamed so as to carry its rider with the same safety and docility as a horse, is a different question; and, let it be remembered that, though the ostriches above-mentioned ran for a short time