Page:Natural History, Birds.djvu/263

250 The various species, which are not numerous, inhabit the vast plains of Africa, South America, Australia, and the great islands of the Oriental Archipelago. One singular form is confined to New Zealand. They mostly associate in flocks, and subsist on grain, fruits, and herbage, to which worms, insects, and other animal substances, are sometimes added. Some of them are able to swim with facility, though the toes are not webbed. They are birds of imposing appearance, but though watchful and suspicious, possess but little intelligence.

In this Australian form of the Struthionidæ, the beak is straight, with the edges very much depressed, rounded at the tip, and slightly keeled along the ridge. The nostrils are large, protected by a membrane, opening about the middle of the upper part of the beak. The head is feathered; the throat nearly naked. The feet have three toes armed with blunt, hoof-like claws. The Emu of New South Wales and Southern Australia (Dromaius Novæ-Hollandiæ, .) is now well known to us by the numerous specimens which have been sent to this country, some of which have bred in our menageries. In size and height it nearly equals the African Ostrich, for the males are said to attain a stature of above seven feet, and some of the specimens in captivity are but little inferior to this. The hair-like plumage divides along the line of the back, and falls gracefully over on each side; it is generally of a dusky brown, mottled on the under parts with