[retrac]

The Egyptians domesticated the ostrich and it has been familiar to Mediterranean civilization since. England was part of the Roman world just a few hundred years before the period in question. At that time at least, there were lions in London's zoos and gladiatorial games. I don't know of records to this effect, but there might even have been been ostriches - a favourite animal to import for the games elsewhere in the empire.

It's much less likely there were live ostriches in Anglo-Saxon times but the rich have always enjoyed mangeries and exotic animals. I wouldn't be surprised. And there would be traveller accounts and stories, increasingly mythical to be fair, as large population movements from places where people had actually seen them declined in the post-Roman era.

[linearrust]

> England was part of the Roman world just a few hundred years before the period in question.

England was never part of the roman world. It was the collapse of the roman world that allowed the anglo-saxons to settle and create england. England was a post-roman world creation. Heck it was part of the destruction crew of the roman world.

[skyyler]

The comment you are replying to likely meant Britain, not England.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_Britain

USAmericans tend to say "England" interchangably with "United Kingdom", "Great Britain", and "The British Isles". Possibly more.

[tsimionescu]

It's not just US people who do this, it's many others in Europe and around the world. The common name of the UK in many languages is some variant of England, even to the point of what you'd learn in a geography class.

Also, people very commonly use the name of modern day countries to refer to their territory, such as "most of Germany was frozen over in the last Ice Age". I suspect this is what is happening here.