ostrich Summary and Overview

(Lam. 4:3), the rendering of Hebrew pl. enim; so called from its greediness and gluttony. The allusion here is to the habit of the ostrich with reference to its eggs, which is thus described: "The outer layer of eggs is generally so ill covered that they are destroyed in quantities by jackals, wild-cats, etc., and that the natives carry them away, only taking care not to leave the marks of their footsteps, since, when the ostrich comes and finds that her nest is discovered, she crushes the whole brood, and builds a nest elsewhere." In Job 39:13 this word in the Authorized Version is the rendering of a Hebrew word (notsah) which means "feathers," as in the Revised Version. In the same verse the word "peacocks" of the Authorized Version is the rendering of the Hebrew pl. renanim, properly meaning "ostriches," as in the Revised Version. (See OWL T0002815 [1].)

a large bird, native of African and Arabia, nearly ten feet high, having s long neck and short wings. It seeks retired places, #Job 30:29; La 4:13| and has a peculiar mournful cry that is sometimes mistaken by the Arabs for that of the lion. #Mic 1:8| In #Job 39:13-18| will be found a description of the bird's habits. Ostriches are polygamous; the hens lay their eggs promiscuously in one nest, which is merely a hole scratched in the sand; the eggs are then covered over to the depth of about a foot, and are, in the case of those birds which are found within the tropics, generally left for the greater part of the day to the heat of the sun, the parent-birds taking their turns at incubation during the night. The habit of the ostrich leaving its eggs to be matured by the sun's heat is usually appealed to in order to confirm the scriptural account, "she leaveth her eggs to the earth;" but this is probably the case only with the tropical birds. We believe that the true explanation of this passage is that some of the eggs are left exposed around the nest for the nourishment of the young birds. It is a general belief among the Arabs that the ostrich is a very stupid bird; indeed they have a proverb, "stupid as an ostrich." As is well known, the ostrich will swallow almost any substance, iron, stones, and even has been known to swallow "several leaden bullets scorching hot from the mould." But in many other respects the ostrich is not as stupid as this would indicate, and is very hard to capture. It is the largest of all known birds, and perhaps the swiftest of all cursorial animals. -The feathers so much prized are the long white plumes of the wings. The best are brought from Barbary and the west coast of Africa.

OS'TRICH , a remarkable bird of the hot regions of Africa and Arabia, often attaining the height of 7 feet, of which the head and neck make 3. It is also 7 feet from the head to the end of the tail when the neck is stretched horizontally on a line with the body. The ostrich loves solitary and desolate places, and is the bird intended in Job 30:29; Isa 13:21; Isa 34:13; Jer 50:39; Mic 1:8 (though called the owl), and its cry is piercing and mournful. The plumage of the ostrich is white and black. Its weight (which is often 75 or 80 pounds) and the construction of its body prevent its flying. The habits of this bird are described with scientific accuracy in Job 39:13-18. Its timidity is such that the least noise frightens it from the nest, which is often made on the ground and in the most exposed places; and from the same cause the young of the ostrich are often suddenly abandoned. Hence she seems to be regarded as lacking the usual share of instinct or natural affection. Lam 4:3. A modern traveller tells us that the Arabs meet sometimes with whole nests of these eggs (containing from thirty to fifty in number), 5 inches in diameter, and weighing several pounds; some of them are sweet and good, others are addled and corrupted; others, again, have their young ones of different growth, according to the time, it may be presumed, since they have been forsaken of the dam. They often meet with a few of the little ones no bigger than well-grown pullets, half starved, straggling and moaning about like so many distressed orphans for their mother. In this manner the ostrich may be said to be "hardened against her young ones, as though they were not hers; her labor," in hatching and attending them, being "vain, without fear" or the least concern of what becomes of them afterward. The most remarkable characteristic of the ostrich is the rapidity with which it runs, and which the fleetest horse cannot equal. The surprising swiftness of this bird is expressly mentioned by Xenophon. Speaking of the desert of Arabia, he states that ostriches are frequently seen there; that none could take them, the horsemen who pursue them soon giving it over, for they escaped far away, making use both of Ostrich. their feet to run and of their wings, when expanded, as a sail to waft them along. This representation is confirmed by the writer of A Voyage to Senegal, who says, "She sets off at a hard gallop, but, after being excited a little, she expands her wings as if to catch the wind and abandons herself to a speed so great that she seems not to touch the ground. I am persuaded," continues the writer, "she would leave far behind the swiftest English courser." See Owl, Peacock.

So translated for "owl" (Leviticus 11:16), bath haya'anah "daughter of greediness" or "daughter of wailing." Isaiah 34:13 translated "a dwelling for ostriches," not "a court for owls" (Isaiah 43:20, margin). Feminine to express the species. Some Arabs eat the flesh. It will swallow almost any substance, iron, stone, etc., to assist the triturating action of the gizzard. The date stone, the hardest of vegetable substances, is its favourite food. Its cry resembles the lion's, so that Hottentots mistake it. Dr. Livingstone could only distinguish them by the fact that the ostrich roars by day, and the lion roars by night. Rosenmuller makes the derivation "daughter of the desert." (Micah 1:8), Job 30:29 -"I am a companion to ostriches" (not "owls"), living among solitudes. In Lamentations 4:3, yeenim, "cruel like the ostriches in the wilderness." renanim; Job 39:13, "peacocks." Rather, "the ostrich hen," literally, "cries," referring to its dismal night cries, as in Job 30:29. Translated: "the wing of the ostrich hen vibrates joyously. Is it like the quill and feathers of the pious bird (the stork)? (surely not.)" The quivering wing characterizes the ostrich in full course. Its white and black feathers in the wing and tail are like the stork's feathers; but, unlike that bird, the symbol of parental love, it deserts its young. If the "peacock"(which has a distinct name, tukiyim) had been meant, the tail, its chief beauty, not the wings, would have been mentioned. Ostriches are polygamous. The hens lay their eggs promiscuously in one nest, a mere hole scratched in the sand, and they cover them with sand a foot deep. The parent birds incubate by turn during the night, but leave them by day to the sun's heat in tropical countries. Hence, arose the notion of her lack of parental love: "which leaveth her eggs in the earth, and warmeth them in dust." But in non-tropical countries the female incubates her eggs by day, the male takes his turn on the nest at night. There they watch the eggs so carefully that they will even kill jackals in their defense. Moreover, she lays some of her eggs on the surface around the nest; these seem to be forsaken; "she forgeteth that the foot may crush them, or that the wild beasts may break them." They are actually for the nutriment of the young birds. It is a shy bird. The only stupidity in the ostrich which warrants the Arab designation "the stupid bird" at all is its swallowing at times of substances which prove fatal to it, for instance, hot bullets, according to Dr. Shaw (Travels, ii. 345); also its never swerves from the course it once adopts, so that hunters often kill it by taking a shortcut, to which it only runs faster. Livingstone calculates its stride at 12 ft. on an average, and 30 strides in every 10 seconds, i.e. 26 miles an hour. "She is hardened against her young ones as though they were not hers," i.e. to man she seems (Scripture uses phenomenal language, not thereby asserting the scientific accuracy of it) as if she neglected her young; but she is guided by a sure instinct from God, as much as animals whose instincts seem (at first sight) to be more provident. At a slight noise she forsakes her eggs, as if hardened toward her young; but it is actually a mark of young sagacity, since her capture might be the only result of returning. "Her labour (in producing eggs) is in vain, (yet she is) without fear," unlike other birds who, if one and another egg be removed, will go on laying until the full number is restored. "Because God hath deprived her of wisdom," etc.: the argument is, her very seeming lack of wisdom is not without the wise design of God, just as in the saint's trials, which seem so unreasonable to Job, there lies hidden a wise design. Her excellencies, notwithstanding her seeming deficiencies, are enumerated next; "she (proudly) lifteth up herself on high (Gesenius, 'she lasheth herself' up to the course by flapping her wings), she scorneth the horse." The largest and swiftest of cursorial animals. Its strength is immense; the wings are not used for flying, but are spread "quivering" (see above) as sails before the wind, and serve also as oars. The long white plumes in the wing and tail come to us from Barbary; the general plumage is black, the head and neck is bare. Their height is more than eight feet. Zoologically, it approaches the mammalian type. Its habitat is the desert here and there, from the Sahara to the Cape of South Africa, and in the Euphratean plains (Isaiah 13:21, margin).