LIFE ON AN OSTRICH FARM. 785 



formidable claw with which, the foot is armed." Those, however, 

 who are well practiced in the use of the tackey have no difficulty 

 in dealing with the most furious bird. They thrust the thorns in 

 his face, and he shuts his eyes and is bewildered, and the man goes 

 on. Fortunately, one is never assailed by more than one ostrich 

 at a time ; for, in the large camps, each one has his own domain, 

 separated from those of the others by some imaginary boundary- 

 line of his own, within which he defends his claims with vigor. 

 Any other ostrich daring to invade his territory is at once attacked, 

 and the human intruder is carefully looked out for till he is seen 

 safely away. Immediately after thus speeding the parting guest, 

 the most savage bird is quite harmless ; he dismisses you from 

 his thoughts, and walks quietly back, feeding as he goes. And in 

 the distance you see the head and long neck of his neighbor, 

 whose kingdom you have now entered, and whose sharp eyes spied 

 you out the instant your foot crossed his frontier. He now ad- 

 vances toward you with jerky, spasmodic movements, as if he 

 were bowing you a welcome ; this, however, is far from his 

 thoughts, and, after sitting down once or twice to give you his 

 challenge whereby he hopes you will be intimidated he trots 

 up defiantly, and the tackey' s services are again required. 



Thus, during a morning's walk through the camps, you may be 

 escorted in succession by four or five vicious birds, all determined 

 to have your life if possible, yet held completely in check by a few 

 mimosa thorns. When an ostrich challenges, he sits down, and, 

 flapping each broad wing alternately, inflates his neck and throws 

 his head back, rolling it from side to side, and with each roll 

 striking the back of his head against his bony body with so sharp 

 and resounding a blow that a severe headache seems likely to be 

 the result. A person on horseback is even more obnoxious to the 

 ostriches than a pedestrian ; and a ride through the camp enables 

 one to realize how true to life is the description in the book of Job 

 of a vicious bird: "What time she lifteth herself on high, she 

 scorneth the horse and his rider." The creature, when preparing 

 for an attack, draws itself up, stands on tiptoe, stretches its neck 

 to the full extent, and really seems to gain several feet in height. 

 The birds are very uncertain in their affections, and take sudden 

 and unaccountable dislikes ; and they are sometimes so vicious 

 that the herdsmen have to kill them in self-defense and as this 

 usually happens with the finest ostriches, with considerable loss to 

 the proprietor. Mrs. Martin had an opportunity of witnessing 

 from her window the regularity with which a pair of birds, sitting 

 alternately on the eggs, came on and off at their fixed times. 

 " The cock always takes his place upon the nest at sundown, and sits 

 through the night his dark plumage making him much less con- 

 spicuous than the light-colored hen ; with his superior strength 



