Adam Clarke on Job 39:17

God hath deprived her of wisdom - Of this foolishness we have an account from the ancients; and here follow two instances:

1. It covers its head in the reeds, and thinks itself all out of sight because itself cannot see. So Claudian: - - 'Stat lumine clauso

Ridendum revoluta caput: creditque latere

Quad non ipsa videt.'

2. They who hunt them draw the skin of an ostrich's neck on one hand, which proves a sufficient lure to take them with the other. They have so little brain that Heliogabalus had six hundred heads for his supper. Here we may observe, that our judicious as well as sublime author just touches the great points of distinction in each creature, and then hastens to another. A description is exact when you cannot add but what is common to another thing; nor withdraw, but something peculiarly belonging to the thing described. A likeness is lost in too much description, as a meaning is often in too much illustration." - Dr. Young.