OSTRICHES. 113 



When an ostrich challenges he sits down ; and, flap- 

 ping each broad wing alternately, inflates his neck, and 

 throws his head back, rolling it from side to side, and 

 with each roll strikinor 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 camps enables one to realize how true to life is the 

 description, in the Book of Job, of a vicious bird : 

 " What time she lifteth up herself on high, she scorneth 

 the horse and his rider." The creature, when prepar- 

 ing 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. And, indeed, it does its 



best to knock you off your horse. T once saw a 



man riding as desperately as Tam O'Shanter, with an 

 ostrich in close pursuit. It kept up with him, helping 

 his horse along with an occasional well-placed kick ; 

 while the unhappy rider, hoping to intimidate his 

 assailant, was again and again firing off his revolver 

 into the air, but without effect. 



As the new arrival in a country subject to earth- 

 quakes begins by thinking very lightly of these dis- 

 turbances, but finds his appreciation of their importance 

 increase with every successive shock ; so the new chum 

 in South Africa, inclined at first to look with contempt 

 on the precautions taken against savage ostriches, 

 learns in time to have a proper respect for the foolish, 

 innocent-looking creatures, whose soft, dark-brown 



