* Ostrich-shell Cups in Mesopotamia and Ostrik in Ancient and Modern Times * (1926) – Review of Public Domain

Laufer’s chapters are mixed with region and season. Palestine, Syria, and Arabia first. While Leviticus and Deuteronomy heals the pollutant bird, the heritage of North Africa has been released feasted with the animal. . Hebrew speakers are called ostrich Bath hayta’anah (“Daughter in the desert”); Arabic speakers used similar epithet, naming the bird as the father of the desert, but also the magician,, the strong,, the refugee,, the stupidand the gray. While writing his treatise, laufer found ample supplies of ostrich feathers in the souks of aleppo, damascus, and smyrna, and recounts an islamic legend he heard about the bird’s lackluster wings: Competing with a bustard, the ostrich forgot to evoke allah’s assistance before flying close to the sun. The star burns bird pins and the feathers of each generation afterwards.