Nancy Bennett.. age 13, of Valley, Wash.

Do the ostrich and emu live together?

The ostrich, the emu and the rhea are rarites and these large, flightless birds seem to have vast territories among themselves. The lordly ostrich has the continent of Africa and the leggy rhea birds make their homes in South America. The emu lives on the island continent of Australia, The three big birds are separated by wide stretches of ocean and in the wild they never visit or trespass on each other’s territory.

At one time, the emu shared his homeland with many other ratite birds and, sad to say, many of them have become extinct in recent times. His little cousin, the kiwi, still survives and his bad‑tempered cousin the cassowary is found on the northern tip of Australia and in nearby New

Guinea, But all the big ratites are widely separated and there are not too many left, for perhaps they are slowly losing the harsh battle of survival in the scheme of nature,