natives. The adult bird in the wild state is exceedingly shy and
difficult of approach, and, owing to its great fleetness and strength,
is rarely if ever caught. It eats voraciously, and, like the ostrich,
will swallow whatever comes in its way. (See EMEU.)

CAST (from the verb meaning "to throw"; the word is Scand. in origin,
cf. Dan. _kaste_, and Swed. _kasta_; "cast" in Middle Eng. took the
place of the A.S. _weorpan_, cf. Ger. _werfen_), a throw, or that which
is thrown, or that into which something is thrown. From these three
meanings come the main uses of the word; for the throwing of dice, with
the figurative sense of a chance or opportunity, as in "at the last
cast"; for the throwing of a fisherman's line in fly-fishing; for hounds
spreading out in search of a lost scent; or, with the further meaning of
a twisted throw or turn, for a slight squint in the eye. "Cast" is
applied to a measure of herrings or other fish, being the amount taken
in two hands to be thrown into a vessel, and similarly to a potter's
measure for a certain quantity of clay; in fishing, to the casting line
of gut with fly attached; to the hard refuse thrown out of the crop of a
bird of prey, and to the coils of earth thrown up by earth-worms. From
the old method, in making calculations, of using counters, which were
thus "thrown" up into a heap, is probably derived the meaning of "cast"
for the "casting up" of figures in an account. Further, the word is
found for a mould for the casting of metals, and more particularly for
the copy of an original statue or relief taken from a mould; similarly,
of fossils, for the mineral filling of the empty mould left by the
organism. Special uses of the word are also found in the theatrical term
for the assignment of particular parts to the actors and actresses in a
play, and in the many figurative senses of a type or stamp, as of
features or characters.

CASTAGNO, ANDREA DEL (1390-1457), Italian painter of the Florentine
school, was born in 1390, probably at Castagno, in the district of
Mugello, and died in August 1457. He imitated Masaccio and the
naturalists of his time in boldness of attitude, but was deficient in
grace and colouring. His name was for about four centuries burdened with
the heinous charge of murder; it was said that he treacherously
assassinated his colleague, Domenico Veneziano, in order to monopolize
the then recent secret of oil painting as practised in Flanders by the