At the commencement of the pairing-season the cocks endeavour to attract the attention of the hens by their nuptial display. Advancing towards the latter they ruffle out their feathers like an excited turkey-cock, at the same time lowering their wings and spreading out the tail like a fan. The gular pouch is also inflated, so as to make the neck appear as thick as possible, and the beautiful under feathers are displayed to the utmost extent, the body and neck being half buried in a billowy mass of snow-white plumes. It is at this time also that the cocks rush at one another with trailing wings to contend with beak and talons for the mastery. On such occasions it is possible to capture these generally shy birds with the hand. The nest is generally constructed amid growing corn, the hen merely scratching a slight hollow in the ground, which she lines with straw, bents, and grass. The three or four eggs are incubated by the hen alone, and when the young are hatched, both these and their parents leave the standing corn only for short periods. At first the young bustards feed chiefly upon insects and worms, to which they are directed by the old birds, but later on vegetable substances constitute almost their sole food. Young peas and cabbage form very favourite food, but in default of better nutriment grass is largely eaten. THE SOMALI OSTRICH (_Struthio molybdophanes_) Ostriches, which are natives of the deserts and semi-desert plains of Africa and south-western Asia, cannot possibly be mistaken for any other birds, and therefore stand in no need of description, although it may be as well to mention that they are the largest of living birds, and are absolutely peculiar in having only two toes to each foot, as well as in the absence of feathers on the thigh. It was at one time considered that the lack of the power of flight, which characterises these birds in common with their relatives the rheas of South America, the emu of Australia, the cassowaries of Austro-Malaya and Australasia, and the tiny kiwis and rheas of New Zealand, was a primitive feature. But this is manifestly an erroneous idea, and all these groups are evidently descended from birds endowed with the power of flight, their nearest relatives being the tinamus of South America and the game-birds, with which they agree in the presence of longitudinal light stripes on the downy dress of the chicks.