[40] At the Zoological Gardens, Regent’s Park, where at this moment several of these birds are alive, the ostrich is fed on a mixture of oats, barley, chaff, and cabbage, of which the respective quantities are as follows: oats, one pint; barley, one pint; chaff, half a gallon; and cabbage, four pounds.
[41] Apicius gives a recipe for the best sauce.
[42] The Romans, as is well known, also introduced large numbers of ostriches into the circus, where they were butchered by the people. We are told that no less than one thousand of these splendid creatures (together with an equal number of the stag, the fallow deer, and the boar tribe) were on one occasion brutally sacrificed to gratify the insatiable thirst for blood of the Roman populace.
[43] The plumes, together with the eggs, of the ostrich, are said to have been held in much request with the ancient Egyptians. Indeed, they formed part of the tribute imposed on those of the conquered nations in whose country the bird abounded, and appear to have been used for ornaments as well as for religious purposes. “The ostrich feather was a symbol of the Goddess of Truth or Justice. It belonged also to the head-dress of Ao, was adopted by Hermes Trismegistus, and worn by the soldiery and the priests on certain religious festivals.” “In Turkey, the janizary who signalized himself in arms had the privilege of empluming his turban, and in the kingdom of Congo the feathers, mixed with those of the peacock, are employed as the ensigns of war and victory.”
[44] Such feathers as have been plucked from the wings of the living bird are said to be preferable to those obtained from the dead ostrich, as being less liable to the attack of worms.
[45] “The Boke of Philip Sparrow.”
[46] Among the people of Persia and Arabia the vulgar belief is said to exist “that the shutur-moorg (the camel-bird) is produced by the union of a camel with a bird!”
[47] “When slain, the throat is opened, and a ligature being passed below the incision, several of the hunters raise the bird by the head and feet, and shake and drag him about until they obtain from the aperture nearly twenty pounds of a substance of mingled blood and fat, of the consistence of coagulated oil, which, under the denomination of manteque, is employed in the preparation of dishes and the cure of various maladies.”—Harris’s Wild Sports.
[48] Several well-known Australian explorers make mention of similar occurrences with this identical bird. I have also heard that in India it is no unusual thing to see hawks snatch the food from a person as he travels along.
[49] Oryx capensis, oryx beisa, and oryx leucoryx.