. The cyclopædia of anatomy and physiology. Anatomy; Physiology; Zoology. of the Ostrich. which have three . toes, all turned for- ward. The Coursers with a depressed beak have the longest and strong- est legs, and run with remarkable velocity; these include The Ostrich (Strur tldo Camelus) which has only two toes. (Fig. 122.) The Rhea (Rhea Ante-- ricaiia.) The Cassowary (Cas- suarius galeatus.) The Emeu (Dromaius uter.) Of these four giants of the class the first inhabits the continent of Africa, the second South America, the third Java, and the fourth Australia. The Coursers, with a compres
. The cyclopædia of anatomy and physiology. Anatomy; Physiology; Zoology. of the Ostrich. which have three . toes, all turned for- ward. The Coursers with a depressed beak have the longest and strong- est legs, and run with remarkable velocity; these include The Ostrich (Strur tldo Camelus) which has only two toes. (Fig. 122.) The Rhea (Rhea Ante-- ricaiia.) The Cassowary (Cas- suarius galeatus.) The Emeu (Dromaius uter.) Of these four giants of the class the first inhabits the continent of Africa, the second South America, the third Java, and the fourth Australia. The Coursers, with a compressed beak, are represented by a single and now extinct genus, the Dodo, (Didus ineptus, Linn.) This bird is known from a description given by one of the early Dutch navigators, and preserved in Clusius ( Exoticorum libri de- cem descr. 1605, pp. 99 and 100) ; by an oil- painting of the same period, copied by Ed- wards (Gleanings, plate 294); from a de- scription and figure in Herbert's Same Years Travels in Africa, Asia, $c. 1677; and from the Historia Naturalis et Medicu, of Jacob Bontius, 1658. A foot of the Dodo is preserved in the British Museum, and a head in the Ashmolean col- lection at Oxford. The beak resembles that of the Penguin or Albatross rather than that of a Vulture, to which it has been compared. The foot would resemble that of the Apteno- dytcs, if it were webbed, which however it is not nor has been. It is very similar to, but proportionally stronger than, the foot of the Curassow. We have examined carefully the foot in the British Museum, and also the head of the Dodo at the Ashmolean Museum, and derived a conviction that they are the remains of a bird sui generis. A third form of beak among the Brevipcnnes or Cursores is presented by the Apteryx Aus- tralis; a bird inhabiting and apparently pecu- liar to the island of New Zealand. The man- dibles are elongated and slender, the upper one is marked on either side by a longitudinal furrow. The toes are, as in
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