"Quotation from Ling-wai-tai-ta, 3, 6a. The ostrich
was first made known to the Chinese in the beginning of the second century
of our era, when some were brought to the court of China from Parthia. The
Chinese then called them An-si-tsio 'Parthian bird.' See Hou Han Shu,
88, and Hirth, China and Roman Orient, 39. In the Wei shu, 102, 12b,
no name is given them, they are simply 'big birds which resemble a camel,
which feed on herbs and flesh and are able to eat fire. In the T'ang
shu, 221, 7a, it is said that this bird is commonly called 'camel-bird.'
It is seven feet high, black of colour, its feet like those of the camel,
it can travel three hundred li a day, and is able to eat iron. The
ostrich is called by the Persians ushturmurgh and by the Arabs
teir al-djamal, both meaning 'camel birds.'"
Dr. Bretschneider in his Notes on Chinese Mediaeval Travellers to the
West (1875), p. 87, n. 132, has a long note with a figure from the Pen
ts'ao kang mu on the "camel-bird" (p. 88).
Cf. F. Hirth, Die Laender des Islam, Supp.
