Boys and birds; or, Miss Truat's mission (1874) (14563089120)

Identifier: boysbirdsormisst00dyer (find matches)
Title: Boys and birds; or, Miss Truat's mission
Year: 1874 (1870s)
Authors: Dyer, Sidney, 1814-1898. (from old catalog)
Subjects: Birds
Publisher: Philadelphia, The Bible and publication society
Contributing Library: The Library of Congress
Digitizing Sponsor: The Library of Congress



Text Appearing Before Image:
^^ Fig. 96.—California Quail. From an inspection of the specimen which yousaw in my collection, you will understand how appro-priately it has been named. The bird cannot fly,but it has little need of wings to enable it to escape,as it can outstrip the fleetest horse. In the thirty-ninth chapter of Job we find a striking allusion tothis fact: What time she lifteth herself on high, BOYS AND BIRDS. 347 she scorneth the horse and his rider. All who haveseen the ostrich in its native condition have testifiedto the truth of this description. The ostrich is the largest of all known existingbirds. (Fig. 97.) It inhabits the hot deserts of Af-
Text Appearing After Image:
Fig. 97.— Ostrich. rica, for which locality God has especially endowedit, though we should think that its abundant cover-ing of thick downy plumes would be inconvenientlywarm in that hot climate. The birds vary some- 348 BOYS AND BIEDS. what in size, ranging from six to eight feet in height,the long neck comprising nearly one-half the measure.The colors of the rich plumes are generally blackand white, the latter color prevailing on the tail andthe under parts of the bird. These feathers haveconsiderable value as adornments for military pur-poses and for ladies. As the ostrich because of its great speed cannoteasily be taken in the chase, the natives have to re-sort to strategy. The hunter scrapes a hole in thesand near the nest: in this hole he carefullv hideshimself, and when the bird comes to deposit theeggs kills it with poisoned arrows. The nest issimply a little scraping in the sand; and when theeggs are laid, the parents pay little or no attentionto them after burying them in