When the cocks fight, as they often do, it is on this useful shield that the thundering kicks are usually received.
The wings have lost almost every vestige suggestive of their original function. Contrary to general opinion, they are of no use toward accelerating the speed of the bird when it runs; if anything they are a hindrance—especially if the bird be hard pressed. But they are serviceable in covering the eggs during the process of incubation, and also in enabling the bird to turn at a sharp angle in the course of a rapid run, or even to stop almost abruptly.
But the true use of the wings lies in the transcendent beauty of the primary feathers. These were developed through sexual selection, by that influence which ever strives to lead the Caliban of passion from the morass to the mountain peak. Incidentally, it is due to the beauty of its plumes that the ostrich has not become practically extinct in Southern Africa. Among the many animals which man has taken from their natural environment and adapted to his needs, the ostrich is the only one in respect of which sheer loveliness, as distinguished from utility, — in its usually restricted sense, — formed the motive of domestication.
It is also the only one which has benefited by the change. The ox, the horse, and the sheep have been reduced to a servitude of which many of the aspects are cruel.
They all subserve material needs. It is kindly treated; even the removal of the feathers is quite a painless process. All this may be not without significance in the general scheme of things. In the leg of the ostrich occurs most marvelous specialization. The bird has but two toes, the third and the fourth, the outer being somewhat short.
The toes have springy pads beneath and are armed with strong nails. From the foot the tarsus rises for about eighteen inches; it is covered with wide transverse scales. Above the tarsus is the so-called thigh, which is really the tibia, or shin. Here the bone is swathed in huge muscles which are covered with naked skin—usually dark blue in color in the adult bird.
As the animals springs from foot to foot, the whole limb on reaching the ground is bent as far as possible at each of the articulations, and when the spring is made, the muscles proper to each joint increase the angle made by the bones meeting at the joint, so that the effect of the whole is to unbend the limb, and give it a maximum of extension at the moment of leaving the ground.
During the spring the antagonist muscles again bend the joints, so that on next touching they are at their maximum of flexion, again waiting to be unbent by the muscles that open the angles of the joints; and so on. As the animal runs, it is thrown alternately from each foot in contact with the ground, as from a catapult, and advances by successive leaps or springs from foot to foot.
The speed thus attained is very great. For a comparatively short distance when the sun is hot, or for a practically unlimited distance if the day be cool, an adult ostrich can easily outspeed a horse. In running the bird holds its head somewhat low, with the neck flexed. Strangely enough, although the neck moves with slight undulations, the head remains steady. One peculiarity which does not appear to have been noted by other observers is this: if an ostrich be kept moving continuously on a very hot day, it will suddenly fall, roll over on its back, and die—apparently of head-apoplexy.
Sight is the special sense of the ostrich; the sense of hearing being next in importance. The sense of smell is, I am convinced, of use only in connection with feeding and in the matter of recognition of the young.
I have several times had wild ostriches pass within a few hundred yards to leeward of where I lay concealed, without evincing the slightest alarm. The nostrils are narrow an lie in a membranous groove rather forward on the bill. The brain is exceedingly small; its weight has been computed to be in the proportion of 1 to as compared with the whole body.
The brain of the eagle is about 1 to ; that of the parroquet as 1 to It has been related that Heliogabalus caused the brains of six hundred ostriches to be used for a single dish. Yet the ostrich is by no means a stupid creature. Most of the older observers mention having seen ostriches herding with the larger wild animals, such as the zebra and the gnu. From my own observations, especially in connection with the hartebeest, I am convinced that it is the other animals which seek the society of the ostrich for the purpose of being insured against surprise.
The commanding height and matchless eyesight of these birds give them a range of vision probably unsurpassed by any other flightless animal—except, possibly, the giraffe.
In this connection it is interesting to note that in the first book of the Anabasis, Xenophon mentions the circumstance of ostriches and wild asses associating together on the plains to westward of the Euphrates. Although it is usually the high, open desert plains that the ostrich frequents, it is also to be found in broken, bushy tracts. I have personally seen them in the wooded country on the East Coast, in a tract lying between the sea and a practically to them impassable range of mountains.
In view of the number and variety of the carnivora there existing at the time, the survival of these birds was very surprising indeed. The observations made are necessarily scanty and incomplete. The shy and elusive nature of the bird is an almost insuperable bar to any connected scrutiny. The mere approach to a nest may cause the loss of a whole brood, for if the birds be badly scared they may not return.
Even an unobliterated spoor in the vicinity of a nest may cause them to abandon it. Another danger lies in the possibility of the eggs being scorched, or chilled, when the birds decamp—according to whether heat or cold prevail. But the greatest danger arises from the jackal, which is almost invariably to be found in the vicinity of a nest, waiting for an opportunity to maraud.
The usual way in which a jackal does mischief is by rolling an egg out to the rim of sand surrounding the nest, and then pushing it back hard with his nose. This cracks the egg—possibly also the one it strikes against. Occasionally two, or even three jackals will attack a nest at the same time, and fight vigorously over the contents of each egg as it is broken.
The havoc then wrought may easily be imagined; it usually results in the abandonment of the nest. He will carry a small, heavy stone up into the air and drop it into the nest. Jackal and raven then share amicably the contents of the smashed egg. When only one, or perhaps two, eggs have been destroyed, the birds when they return may eat up the broken shells and go on sitting. In the desert one could not avoid constantly associating the jackal with the ostrich.
The central area of the Great Bushmanland waste is usually completely arid. It is absolutely level, except where the barren sand-dunes intrude over its northern margin. Of the larger fauna one finds in it only the oryx and the ostrich. But in the breeding-season of the latter, central Bushmanland literally abounded with jackals—especially in the vicinity of the ostrich nests.
It was clear that the marauders were there for the purpose of preying on the eggs or the newly hatched chicks. So far as could be ascertained, there was literally nothing else for them to eat.
The recognizable contents of the stomachs of jackals shot at this season were invariably the spoil of ostrich nests. It was quite exceptional to locate a nest without at least one fresh jackal-burrow in its vicinity. More than once I have seen the cock in fierce pursuit of an interrupted marauder who, twisting and doubling, — yelping dolorously the while, — made frantic efforts to reach his burrow.
The jackal usually escapes, but not invariably. In the vicinity of recently abandoned nests, one occasionally found evidence indicating that some skulking brute had met a violent and richly deserved end. The association of the jackal and the ostrich appears in ancient myth and literature. Flinders Petrie relates that in prehistoric Egypt, when the king was slain, the door to the underworld was supposed to be opened b the jackal, and through it the soul was wafted on an ostrich feather.
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The male birds kick at each other through wire fences, thus breaking legs. He also says that cocks frequently die when, from behind their fences, they attempt to attack people. The adult birds seem to manifest a "will to die. Martin 9, p. Her efforts to force-feed such injured birds were always futile.
Another ostrich mentioned by Martin stuck its head through the mesh of a fence to eat a quince. After swallowing the quince, the bird's neck would no longer pull back through the fence.
She describes his plight thus:. And he was found at last, with his neck broken, and his head, to all intents and purposes, pulled off 9, p.
While discussing the apparently foolish behavior of the birds, the "head in the sand" myth should be mentioned. The job account, of course, does not contain this erroneous idea. Although strictly a fable, his notion may have its basis in observable fact, as Beebe explains:. Lastly, the fable of hiding their heads in the sand to avoid detection has some foundation in their habit of crouching as closely as possible to the ground, when they think they are observed; a great eight-foot creature thus transforming itself into an inconspicuous ant hill, or mound of earth.
The ostrich's lack of wisdom is further demonstrated by items it snatches and swallows unexpectedly. Martin speaks of some ostriches in a zoo that died of poisoning from pennies fed to them 9, p. She also recalls that one ostrich tried to swallow her earring, while yet another bird swallowed a farm manager's lighted pipe and was none the worse for wear 9, p. In his story Robinson tells of ostriches swallowing such bizarre items as scarf pins, hat pins, lighted cigars, and chatelaine watches 13, p.
Robinson also mentions birds pulling the handkerchief from the cook's rear pocket and one particular ostrich which drank coffee 13, p. On the basis of these observations, the Bible's statement that ostriches have been deprived of wisdom is fully vindicated.
Job refers to the speed of die adult birds and to their ability to cope with mounted hunters. An analysis of the literature confirms these statements and demonstrates the ferocity of the adult birds. Ostriches are a great hazard to horseback riders. While riding, Schreiner 14 had a hole kicked through his riding breeches at the knee by an ostrich.
He also knew of a boy who was kicked out of the saddle by one of these birds. Schreiner tells of their ability to leap five-foot fences and to swim in rivers. Martin tells of an ostrich that chased and kicked a horse and rider 9, p. Citations from ostrich literature also bear out the Biblical indication Lamentations that the ostrich can be a ferocious bird. Ostrich farmers used a "bush" or stick to control the birds. Douglass refers to these bushes, their use, and the ferocity of the ostrich:.
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