CHAPTER I.

_THE OSTRICH AND ITS KINDRED._

The Ostriches are a very ancient group of birds, and, judging from what we know of their anatomy, they must be regarded as representing the most primitive of living birds. With the exception of a single group, to be discussed presently, all have lost the power of flight. In some, in consequence, the wing has become reduced to a mere vestige. It is a rule in Nature, we may remark, that whenever an organ, such as a wing or a leg or a tail, ceases to be useful, it undergoes forthwith a slow process of reduction or degeneration, growing smaller and smaller in each successive generation, till at last it may even disappear altogether. The loss of flight has been accompanied by a degeneration in the quality of the feathers--that is to say, their serviceability as aids to flight has been entirely lost.

The size of the members of this group varies much. The largest of all is the African Ostrich; the smallest, of the flightless forms, the New Zealand Apteryx. The ostrich-like birds which have retained the power of flight are known as Tinamous, and are natives of South America. All these are smaller than the flightless Apteryx.

TINAMOUS.

The TINAMOUS should perhaps be regarded as standing at the head of the Ostrich Tribe, since they have reached a higher degree of development than any other of its members. They have also preserved the power of flight. In their general appearance they bear a singular resemblance to partridges, though a little careful observation will reveal many points wherein they differ therefrom. They are very confiding and unsuspicious birds--some persons call them stupid on this account--and in the early morning the species inhabiting the Argentine pampas will, observers tell us, come right up to the isolated houses of the settlers, so that the boys knock them down with stones. The delicate quality of the flesh has caused these birds to be highly esteemed as food, and their trustful nature renders them an easy prey, so much so that in some districts they have been almost exterminated. Large numbers are caught by riding round them in a circle and securing them with a noose. Mr. Hudson, who lived many years in the pampas, assures us that the GREAT TINAMOU is one of the sweetest-voiced of the native birds. The song is composed of "five modulated notes, flute-like in character, and very expressive, and is uttered by many individuals answering each other as they sit far apart, concealed in the grass."

The eggs of the tinamous are to be reckoned among the wonders of bird life, being so highly burnished as to look like beautifully glazed porcelain. The colour varies according to the species, ranging from wine-red, blue-green, and brown to black. The young are almost as remarkable as the eggs, being clothed with a peculiar down, of great complexity of structure, and resembling in some respects the nestling down of the true ostrich.

THE RHEA.

The RHEA is a native of South America. It is frequently referred to as the SOUTH AMERICAN OSTRICH, and also as the NANDU. The resemblance which it bears to the true ostrich is striking, but it may at once be distinguished therefrom by the fact that it has three toes and a feathered head and neck; furthermore, it is smaller in size, and lacks the conspicuous white wing- and tail-plumes. The tail, indeed, as may be seen from the photographs reproduced is wanting. The rhea must be regarded as standing at the head of the flightless members of the Ostrich Tribe. Its wings, though not large enough to raise its heavy body from the ground, are yet of considerable size.

In Buenos Aires rheas are hunted with dogs. If a breeze is blowing, the birds raise one wing, which acts as a sail. This done, they can acquire a speed which makes it absolutely impossible for either dog or horse to come up with them. The only chance of ultimately capturing them is by wearing them out by ceaseless pursuit. A chase of this kind may last an hour and a half. Needless to say, for sport of this kind both horses and dogs must be the best of their kind and in "good form." The natives and Indians hunt them on horseback with the "bolas." The bolas, or balls, used for this purpose consist of two round stones covered with leather, and united by a thong of about 8 feet long. One of these is held in the hand and the other whirled round the head and suddenly released, when both go whirling madly round till they strike the rhea's legs, around which they instantly twist, and the victim is a fast prisoner.

The rhea is in danger of disappearing altogether as a wild bird, owing to the ruthless slaughter which is made upon it for the sake of its feathers. For some years back, Mr. Harting tells us, "the number of birds killed has averaged 400,000 per annum, and, as a consequence, the species has already disappeared from nearly half the territory of the River Plate." On some estates in Argentina the wild birds are driven in and plucked.

Like most of the Ostrich Tribe, the male alone performs the duties of incubation, hatching some twenty eggs at a time, the produce of several different females. There are three different kinds of rhea, but they do not differ much one from another. The young are curiously striped. The egg is very large, of a cream colour, and deeply pitted.

Darwin, in his "Voyage of the Beagle," tells us that when he was "at Bahia Blanca, in the months of September and October, the eggs, in extraordinary numbers, were found all over the country. They lie either scattered and single, in which case they are never hatched, and are called by the Spaniards huachos; or they are collected together into a shallow excavation which forms the nest. Out of the four nests which I saw, three contained twenty-two eggs each, and the fourth twenty-seven. In one day's hunting on horseback sixty-four eggs were found: forty-four of these were in two nests, and the remaining twenty scattered huachos. The Gauchos unanimously affirm--and there is no reason to doubt their statement--that the male bird alone hatches the eggs, and for some time afterwards accompanies the young. The cock, when on the nest, lies very close: I have myself almost ridden over one. It is asserted that at such times they are occasionally fierce and even dangerous, and that they have been known to attack a man on horseback, trying to kick and leap on him. My informer pointed out to me an old man whom he had seen much terrified by one chasing him.... I understand that the male emu in the Zoological Gardens takes charge of the nest: this habit, therefore, is common to the family.

"The Gauchos unanimously affirm that several females lay in one nest. I have been positively told that four or five hen birds have been watched to go, in the middle of the day, one after another, to the same nest.... Although this habit at first appears very strange, I think the cause may be explained in a simple manner. The number of eggs in the nest varies from twenty to forty, and even fifty; and according to Azara even seventy or eighty. Now, although it is most probable, from the number of the eggs found in one district being so extraordinarily great in proportion to the parent birds, and likewise from the state of the ovarium of the hen, that she may, in the course of the season, lay a large number, yet the time required must be very long.... If the hen was obliged to hatch her own eggs before the last was laid, the first probably would be addled; but if each laid a few eggs at successive periods in different nests, and several hens ... combined together, then the eggs in one collection would be nearly of the same age. If the number of eggs in one of these nests is, as I believe, not greater on an average than the number laid by one female in the season, then there must be as many nests as females, and each cock bird will have its fair share of the labour of incubation; and that during a period when the females probably could not sit, from not having finished laying. I have before mentioned the great number of huachos, or deserted eggs; and that in one day's hunting twenty were found in this state. It appears odd that so many should be wasted. Does it not arise from the difficulty of several females associating together, and finding a male ready to undertake the office of incubation? It is obvious that there must at first be some degree of association between at least two females, otherwise the eggs would remain scattered over the wide plains, at distances far too great to allow of the male collecting them into one nest: some ... have believed that the scattered eggs were deposited for the young birds to feed on. This can hardly be the case ... because huachos, although often found addled and putrid, are generally whole."

THE OSTRICH.

The OSTRICH is the giant amongst living birds, the full-grown male standing some 8 feet high, and weighing about 300 lbs. It is flightless, the wings being smaller, in proportion to the size of the body, than in the rhea. But the energy which in other birds is employed in sustaining flight in the ostrich is expended in running, so that it has reached a high degree of speed--no less, in fact, than twenty-six miles an hour. When at full speed, it is generally believed the ostrich derives no small help from the wings, which are used sail-wise. Nor is this belief by any means a modern one, for all of us must be familiar with Job's observations on this subject: "What time she lifteth up her wings on high, she scorneth the horse and his rider." The wings are never used in running at full speed, but are of much service in turning, "enabling the bird to double abruptly, even when going at top speed." In justice to the older observers, however, it must be remarked that ostriches do run with raised wings, but only at the commencement of the run, or in covering a short distance, when the pace may be considerable; but if circumstances demand "full speed ahead," they are held close to the body, where they offer the least resistance to speed.

With the gradual perfection of its running powers, there has followed a gradual change in the form of the leg. This change has taken place by reduction in the number of the toes. Of the original five with which its ancestors began life only two now remain--the third and fourth. The third is of great size, having apparently waxed great at the expense of the other toes, a growth which seems to be still in progress, inasmuch as the fourth toe is undoubtedly dwindling. It is very small, and gives unmistakable signs of growing smaller, since it has now become nailless. When it has quite disappeared, the ostrich, like the horse, will have but a single toe on each foot--the third. The dainty, mincing step of the ostrich is a delight to watch, and, thanks to the Zoological Gardens, this can be done even in smoky London.

The ostrich, like its cousin of South America, the rhea, commonly associates with herds of the larger mammalia. On the South African veldt the companions of the ostrich are the zebra, wildebeest, and hartebeest, just as on the pampas of South America the rheas are found associated with herds of deer and guanaco.

The egg of the ostrich weighs about 3 lbs., and is of delicious flavour. The empty shell, it has been found by experiment, is large enough to hold the contents of eighteen eggs of the common domesticated fowl. It takes about forty minutes to boil an ostrich egg hard. About fifteen eggs represent the clutch. The nest is a mere depression in the sand. The hen sits by day, and her mate by night; but the eggs are _never_ left, as is sometimes stated, to the heat of the sun, so as to lessen the duties of the parent. Such a course would infallibly destroy the eggs, for the sun's rays, especially at noon, are very powerful.

The male and female ostrich differ much in coloration. In the former the trunk is clothed in a vestment of richest black, whilst the quills of the wings and tail-feathers are of pure white: they form the much-prized ostrich plumes. The female is much less splendid, being clothed in sober grey. But these colours are not merely ornamental; they render the male by night and the female by day invisible, owing to the perfect harmony they make with their surroundings, thus affording an interesting illustration of protective coloration.

"All ostriches," says Mr. Cronwright Schreiner, "adults as well as chicks, have a strange habit known as 'waltzing.' When chicks are let out from a kraal in the early morning, they will often start away at a great pace. After running for a few hundred yards they will all stop, and, with wings raised, spin round rapidly for some time, often till quite giddy, when a broken leg occasionally occurs. Adult birds, when running in large camps, will often, if the veldt is good, do the same, especially if startled in the fresh of the early morning. A troop of birds waltzing, in full plumage, is a remarkably pretty sight. Vicious cocks 'roll' when challenging to fight, also when wooing the hen. The cock will suddenly bump down on to his 'knees' ... open his wings, making a straight line across his breast, and then swing them alternately backwards and forwards ... as if on a pivot, each wing, as it comes forward, being raised, while that going backward is depressed. The neck is lowered until the head is on a level with the back, and the head and neck swing from side to side with the wings, the back of the head striking with a loud click against the ribs, first on the one side and then on the other. The click is produced by the skin of the neck, which then bulges loosely just under the beak and for some distance downwards. While 'rolling,' every feather over the whole body is on end, and the plumes are open, like a large white fan. At such a time the bird sees very imperfectly, if at all; in fact, he seems so preoccupied that, if pursued, one may often approach unnoticed. I have walked up to a 'rolling' cock and seized him by the neck, much to his surprise. Just before rolling, a cock, especially if courting the hen, will often run slowly and daintily on the points of his toes, with neck slightly inflated, upright and rigid, the tail half drooped, and all his body-feathers fluffed up; the wings raised and expanded, the inside edges touching the sides of the neck for nearly the whole of its length, and the plumes showing separately, like an open fan ... on each side of his head. In no other attitude is the splendid beauty of his plumage displayed to such advantage."

The males are very fierce while guarding their eggs or fighting for mates, and kick with extraordinary violence with their powerful legs. As an example of their fierceness when aroused, Mr. Cronwright Schreiner, who knows much of these birds, relates a story, told him by a railway-guard, of an old male who charged a goods-train coming at full speed down a steep gradient. The bird, as soon as he caught sight of the train, at once got on the line, "and advanced fearlessly to fight the monster. As the screeching engine approached, he rushed at it from straight in front, hissing angrily, and kicked. He was cut to pieces the next moment."

The Bedouin tribes hunt the ostrich on dromedaries, so also do the natives of Somaliland, and when near enough shoot it with poisoned arrows. In the Sahara, Canon Tristram tells us it is ridden down on horseback, a method of capture which the Sahara sportsman regards as the greatest feat of hunting.

"The Bushmen," says Mr. Harting, "like the Somalis, kill the ostrich with poisoned arrows, or catch it very cleverly in pit-falls or with the lasso, and the Sukurieh and Hadendawah tribes likewise use the lasso, with which the bird, when once fairly caught, is strangled.... A favourite plan is to wait for the birds in a place of concealment, as near as possible to the pools to which they come for water, and then, with a gun loaded with swan-shot, to fire at their necks as they stoop to drink, when perhaps half a dozen are laid low at once.... Another plan to which the Bushman often resorts is simpler still. Having found an ostrich's nest, he removes all the eggs, and, ensconcing himself in the nest, quietly awaits the return of the bird, which he shoots with a poisoned arrow before it has time to recover from its surprise at finding him there instead of the eggs.... In Senaar the Abû-Rôf bring it down by throwing a curved flat stick from 2½ to 3 feet long, not unlike the Australian boomerang, and made of tough acacia-wood or hard zizyphus."

Mr. Arthur Glynn, of Leydenburg, gives a graphic description of an ostrich hunt, his quarry being a troop of twenty birds--"on sighting which," he tells us, "we immediately gave chase, discovering directly afterwards that a single bull wildebeeste was among them. After a stiff gallop," he says, "of half a mile, we got within seventy yards of the troop; so reining in, we both dismounted and fired, bringing down one ostrich and the wildebeeste bull.... We quickly mounted and continued the pursuit, the ostriches never running for any distance in a direct course, but always turning and twisting, which made it difficult for us to keep them in sight.... We went sailing on, neck and neck, regardless of holes or anything else, only thinking of the grandly plumaged birds in front of us, our horses straining every nerve to overtake them, as only old stagers know how to run when in pursuit of game. We had now approached within fifty yards, and, jumping down, we fired at two cock birds running separately from the troop, bringing them both down. Hastily mounting, we continued on after the retreating troop; but at this juncture my friend's horse trod in a hole, sending his rider over his head, thereby completely putting him out of the run. I now continued the chase by myself. For a mile the ostriches gained on me, as they continued to run in a straight line, thereby not enabling me to cut off any point, but obliging me to keep in their rear all the time.... I got off twice, and fired several fruitless shots, and then continued the chase for certainly two miles without dismounting once.... I now got within a hundred yards, and jumped down.... The first shot I fired brought down a fine cock bird, but the second struck the ground over the others, turning them to the right along a low ridge. They appeared very much exhausted, and ran with their wings spread out.... I saw that they were coming direct for me, and waited until they were close.... When the ostriches approached within fifteen yards, I selected the best-looking bird, and put a bullet through him. He ran on for about twenty yards and fell dead."

CASSOWARIES AND EMEUS.

With the Cassowaries and Emeus we have come as near as we can get at the present day to the representatives of the ancient type from which the Ostrich Tribe have sprung. But both these forms are to be regarded as having passed the prime of their development, for, like their allies which we have already considered, they have lost the power of flight. Both emeu and cassowary possess, when adult, one character shared by no other living adult bird: they have what may be called double feathers, each feather possessing two shafts of equal length. They appear to follow a custom of their own in the matter of the coloration of their eggs, since these are never white, like those of the rhea or ostrich, but green, with a very rough surface. The young, like those of the rhea, are striped with alternate black and white stripes. The emeu is found only on the continent of Australia; the cassowary occurs both in Australia and on the neighbouring islands of New Guinea, Ceram, and Aru.

The lot of the CASSOWARY appears to have been cast in pleasant places, making it possible to indulge in the luxury of personal decoration--a decoration, moreover, shared equally by the males and females, both sexes having the head and neck most brilliantly coloured. In some species all the hues of the rainbow are vividly reflected. To show these colours, the feathery covering, still worn by their relatives on the distant continents of Africa and America, has been cast off and the skin left bare. To these gorgeous hues they have added yet other features, for the head is surmounted in many species by a huge casque, or helmet; whilst from the neck depend curious fleshy lobes, or wattles, coloured in accordance with the rest of the bare, coloured skin of this region. Then, too, they have effected quite a novel transformation in the quills of the wing, for these project on either side of the body in a series of shining black spines. Nor is this all, for over and above the energy which they have to spare for personal decoration is a very large reserve to be expended in fighting. The males are very pugnacious, and to give point to this pugnacity they wear a very formidable weapon on the inner toe in the shape of a huge nail, which can inflict a really dangerous wound. It is used in kicking, the foot being brought forwards and downwards with incredible speed and great force. When wounded, these powerful birds are very dangerous to approach. "On more than one occasion a wounded bird has caused a naturalist to take to a tree. The sharp nail of the inner toe is a most dangerous weapon, quite equal to the claw of a large kangaroo, and capable of doing quite as much execution."

Although forest-haunting birds--wherein they differ from their allies, which are plain-dwellers--the cassowaries are adepts at swimming. There is a danger that these beautiful and interesting birds will slowly be exterminated by greedy and thoughtless settlers. The Australian cassowary is already decreasing sadly, being persecuted for the sake of its skin, which is used for rugs and doormats.

The EMEU, though a sort of cousin of the cassowary, boasts none of its splendour; on the contrary, it is a dull, dowdy-looking bird. In size, however, it is much larger than the cassowary. The wings, which are exceedingly small, have numerous tiny quill-feathers--not long, hard spines, as in the cassowary. When in captivity, it exhibits great curiosity; furthermore, it is swift to realise symptoms of fear in the faces of any visitor whom it may have under inspection. Occasionally fear turns into flight, and then, thoroughly entering into the joke, the emeu pursues at top speed. Needless to say, hunting of this kind can only be done in fairly large paddocks or parks; but emeus are frequently so kept.

A very remarkable and quite unique structure in the emeu is a curious bag or pouch, formed by a sort of out-pocketing of the inner lining of the windpipe. Emerging through a long slit caused by the incompleteness of some of the rings near the middle of the windpipe, the pouch comes to lie between this tube and the skin. Strangely enough, it is found only in the female, and is used by her chiefly during the breeding-season, when she utters a peculiarly loud booming note, which, it is supposed, is caused by the manipulation of the air in the pouch. When moved by any gentle excitement or pleasure, especially on damp evenings or in the dead of night, she also becomes musical, giving forth a note which has been likened to a gong or muffled drum. The male, which is smaller, fleeter of foot, and more docile and inquisitive, is mute, or at most gives forth a suppressed hiss when angry, or a kind of grunt when distressed.

At one time the emeu roamed over the whole of the mainland of Australia; but now, alas! it is almost exterminated, being found only far inland and in steadily diminishing numbers. Swift of foot and of great powers of endurance, the emeu has afforded in the past much "sport" to the hunting-man, who followed the dogs, doubtless making comparisons the while between his two-legged prey and his four-footed friend Reynard. The hunt does not end till the bird is thoroughly exhausted, when it must be seized at once by the neck, in order to prevent it kicking, for the legs are so powerful that a blow from the foot is dangerous.

Incubation is apparently performed by the male, which sits from fifty-four to sixty-four days. Practically no nest is made, only a shallow hollow being scraped in the sand. The eggs, from seven to thirteen in number, are of a dark bottle-green colour, sometimes lighter, and have the surfaces curiously roughened. The male is smaller than the female, a fact which has led to some confusion, the larger female having at one time been regarded as the male. It will be noted that the emeus not only lack the brilliant colour of the cassowaries, but also the helmet, or casque.

The late Mr. Gould's remarks on the edibility of the emeu are interesting. He says: "Its flesh has been compared to coarse beef, which it resembles, according to Mr. Cunningham, both in appearance and taste, and is good and sweet eating; nothing, indeed, can be more delicate than the flesh of the young ones. There is little fit for culinary use upon any part of the emu, except the hindquarters, which are of such dimensions that the shouldering of the two hind legs homeward for a mile distance once proved to me as tiresome a task as I ever recollect to have encountered in the colony. I may remark that its flesh proved of the greatest service to Dr. Leichardt and his intrepid companions during their overland route from Moreton Bay to Port Essington, in the course of which, but more particularly between the head of the Gulf of Carpentaria and Port Essington, the sight and capture of the emu was almost a daily occurrence; so abundant, in fact, was it, that he states that he saw in the short space of eight miles at least a hundred, in flocks of three, five, ten, and even more at a time. On the continent of Australia the emu was formerly abundant about Botany Bay and Port Jackson Harbour, but is now only to be seen in the plains of the interior, over whose solitudes it roams in great numbers, and where it breeds, depending on the strength and swiftness of its legs to avoid the pursuit of the stockmen and their dogs. Farther and farther back, however, will it be driven, until it be extirpated, unless some law be instituted to check its wanton destruction."

In a wild state emeus take readily to the water, and have on more than one occasion been seen swimming across a wide river. The South American rhea is also known to be a good swimmer.

The COMMON EMEU is restricted to Eastern Australia. The opposite side of this great continent is inhabited by another and very distinct species, known as the SPOTTED EMEU.

THE APTERYX.

To see the APTERYX at home, we should have to travel to far New Zealand, and to hunt with infinite patience when we got there. Apteryx-hunting, it has been found, to be successful, must be done by the help of dogs. Sir Walter Buller has written some very spirited accounts of such hunts. Europeans, indeed, have been singularly successful in this hunting, whereby they have done much to enhance the value of this bird by hastening its fast approaching and inevitable extermination.

The natives call this bird the Kiwi, from its call-note, "ki-i-wi." These cries are uttered during the early hours of the night, ceasing after midnight. They appear to have great penetrating power.

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