*Ostrich Eggshell Cups of Mesopotamia and the Ostrich in Ancient and Modern Times* (1926) — The Public Domain Review

Laufer’s chapters are organized by region and period. Palestine, Syria and Arabia are discussed first. While Leviticus and Deuteronomy classified the bird as unclean, the North African Numidians feasted on the animal. (Laufer quotes Dr. Duncan of the Department of Agriculture and suggests that his contemporaries try ostrich “as a New Year’s or Easter bird”). Hebrew speakers once called it the ostrich prayed haya’anah (“daughter of the desert”); Arabic speakers used a similar epithet, calling the bird the father of the desert, but also the magician, the strong, the fugitive, the stupid oneAnd the gray. While writing his treatise, Laufer found ample supplies of ostrich feathers in the souks of Aleppo, Damascus, and Smyrna, and relates an Islamic legend he heard about the bird’s lackluster wings: the ostrich competed with a kick and forgot to invoke Allah’s help before flying close to the sun. The star scorched the bird’s gears and the feathers of every generation afterward.