274 LOST AND VANISHING BIRDS 



twenty-two to twenty-eight feet. It is these 

 splendid powers of locomotion that have saved the 

 Ostrich from complete extermination long ago, and 

 stand the bird in good stead at the present time. 

 For speed and endurance the bird may be said to 

 equal almost any other species gifted with powers 

 of flight. As Canon Tristram wrote many years 

 ago in his interesting book on the Great Sahara : 

 " The capture of the Ostrich is the greatest feat of 

 hunting to which the Saharan sportsman aspires, 

 and in richness of beauty it ranks next to the 

 plunder of a caravan. But such prizes are not 

 to be obtained without cost and toil, and it is 

 generally estimated that the capture of an Ostrich 

 must be at the sacrifice of the life of a horse or 

 two. So wary is the bird, and so vast are the 

 plains over which it roams, that no ambuscades or 

 artifices can be employed, and the vulgar resource 

 of dogged perseverance is the only mode of 

 pursuit. The horses undergo a long and painful 

 training — abstinence from water as much as 

 possible, and a diet of dry dates, being considered 

 the best means for strengthening their wind. The 

 hunters of the tribes to the east of the M'zab set 

 forth with small skins of water strapped under 

 their horses' bellies, and a scanty allowance of food 



