Ornithologij of Northern Africa. 73 



not to be obtaiued without cost and toil, and it is generally 

 estimated that the capture of an Ostrich or two must be at the 

 sacrifice of the lives of two horses. So wary is the bird, and so 

 open are the vast plains o.ver which it roams, that no ambus- 

 cades or artifices can be employed, and the vulgar resource of 

 dogged perseverance is the only mode of pursuit. The horses to 

 be employed undergo a long and painful training, abstinence from 

 water and a diet of dry dates being considered the best means for 

 strengthening their wind. The hunters set forth with small skins 

 of water strapped under their horses' bellies, and a scanty allow- 

 ance of food for four or five days, distributed judiciously about 

 their saddles. The Ostrich generally lives in companies of from 

 four to six individuals, which do not appear to be in the habit, 

 under ordinary circumstances, of wandering more than twenty or 

 thirty miles from their head-quarters. When descried, two or three 

 of the hunters follow the herd at a gentle gallop, endeavouring 

 only to keep the birds in sight, without alarming them or driving 

 them at full speed, when they would soon be lost to view. The 

 rest of the pursuers leisurely proceed in a direction at right 

 angles to the course which the ostriches have taken, knowing by 

 experience their habit of running in a circle. Posted on the 

 best look-out they can find, they await for hours the anticipated 

 route of the game, calculating upon intersecting their path. If 

 fortunate enough to detect them, the relay sets upon the now 

 fatigued flock, and frequently succeeds in running one or two 

 down, though a horse or two generally falls exhausted in the pur- 

 suit. The Ostrich, when overtaken, ofl'ers no resistance beyond 

 kicking out sideways. A skin in full plumage is worth on the 

 spot from 40 to 100 Spanish dollars; but the Arabs are in the 

 habit of judiciously thinning the feathers, so that the trader can 

 rai'ely obtain a specimen on which this tax has not been paid. 



I have frequently seen the Ostrich domesticated without being 

 in captivity. The Bey of Tuggurt kept several in a large court- 

 yard where they had fri e egress and ingress, but they showed 

 no inclination to escape. They lived in very good fellowship 

 with the numerous horses, asses, and camels of the establishment, 

 but had an admitted precedence, and would stretch their long 

 necks over the shoulders of any of their companions and select 



