ANATOMY OF BIRDS
GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION
MIGRATIONS OF BIRDS
CLASSIFICATION OF BIRDS
LIZARD-TAILED BIRD
AMERICAN TOOTHED-BIRDS
THE OSTRICHES
THE RHEAS
EMEUS AND CASSOWARIES
THE TINAMOUS
THE KIWIS
THE PENGUINS
LOONS AND GREBES
ALBATROSSES & PETRELS
STORK-LIKE BIRDS
GOOSE-LIKE BIRDS
FALCON-LIKE BIRDS
FOWL-LIKE BIRDS
CRANE-LIKE BIRDS
PLOVER-LIKE BIRDS
CUCKOO-LIKE BIRDS
THE ROLLER-LIKE BIRDS
SPARROW-LIKE BIRDS
Birds and Birding's Guide to:
Watching THE OSTRICHES
Ostrich Species
The question as to whether the Ostriches shall be regarded as constituting a single species, or some three or four, is apparently still somewhat an open one, some ornithologists recognizing but one, which, however, is divided into several geographic races, while others would consider the differences sufficient to rank them as separate species. Be this as it may, the differences are but slight and the habits of the birds practically the same.
Thus the Ostrich (Struthio camelus), found in the Soudan, Arabia, and southern Palestine, has the naked skin of the neck, head, and legs bright flesh-colored, and the eggs produced by this bird are smooth. In the birds inhabiting Somaliland (S. molyb-dophanes), the skin of the naked portions is bluish gray in color, while the Ostrich of South Africa (S. australis) has this skin lead-gray or even white-gray. In both of these last-mentioned forms the egg-shells are provided with large, deep pits of a dark purplish color. More recently the form inhabiting Masailand (S. massaicus) has been separated.
As might be presumed from their arge size and imposing presence, the Ostrich, or Camel-bird, as it was often called, has attracted attention and interest from very ancient times, a fact attested not only by monuments and inscriptions, but by the abundant mention in the works of Aristotle, Pliny, Xenophon, and others, as well as in the Bible.
It would perhaps be of interest, did space permit, to quote from some of these ancient sources, but we may only mention that Pliny, following Aristotle, fell into the error of supposing that the Ostrich was part bird and part quadruped. He says: “This bird exceeds in height a man sitting on horseback, and can surpass him in swiftness, as wings have been given it to aid it in running; in other respects Ostriches cannot be considered as birds, and do not raise themselves from the ground. They have cloven talons, very similar to the hoof of the stag; with these they fight, and they also employ them for seizing stones for the purpose of throwing at those who pursue them."
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