Largest organisms is frequently poorly documented and many are subject to conjecture and estimation. The largest living bird, a member of the Struthioniformes, is the common ostrich ("Struthio camelus"), from the plains of Africa and Arabia. A large male ostrich can reach a height of and weigh over . A mass of has been cited for the common ostrich but no wild ostriches of this weight have been verified. Eggs laid by the ostrich can weigh and are the largest eggs in the world today. The largest bird in the fossil record may be the extinct elephant birds ("Aepyornis") of Madagascar, which
François Lays to "Premiers Sujets" (leading artistes), the highest rank in the company hierarchy. A long-time Freemason and an avid reader of Rousseau, after the outbreak of the French Revolution in 1789 Lays joined the Jacobin Club under the patronage of his old friend Barère. Lays was a passionate believer in the ideals of the Revolution, promoting them among the members of the Opéra company, which had been renamed Théatre des Arts. This was not enough, however, to prevent his arrest in 1792 as a suspected royalist, on the grounds that he had been a leading singer in the Queen's concerts and