Pliny on the Nature of Exotic Birds

My old acquaintance Pliny the Elder (Uncle of my past Australian travelling companion, The Younger), had much to say on the nature of interesting and exotic bird life.

In book 10 of his encyclopaedic Natural Historia, Pliny notes:

"It followeth that we should speak of the nature of birds, of which the greatest are the Ostriches.* .. They are higher than a man sitting on horseback; and they are also swifter than a horse; their wings being only given them to help them in running; for otherwise they do not fly, nor do they even rise from the ground. It is a wonder in their nature, ... for, high as the rest of their body is, if they hide their head and neck in a bush, they think themselves altogether concealed. The advantages obtained from them are their eggs, that are so big that some use them for vessels; and their feathers adorn the crests and helmets of soldiers."

[Pliny, Natural Historia, X.1]

*Ostriches are part of the Ratite genus of which the Emu is also a close relative.