AFRICAN REPTILES AND BIRDS 



hue, which is a good protective color, as the bird is gen- 

 erally found among dry grass and stones on the plains or 

 among sparsely scattered mimosa trees. They have, in 

 comparison, very long legs, but only three toes, like the 

 ostrich. 



The last-named bird has recently been put on the list 

 of animals altogether protected, except on a special permit, 

 which may be given to sportsmen who are accredited from 

 some scientific institution. The reason for thus protecting 

 the ostrich is the constantly growing ostrich feather in- 

 dustry of East Africa. For this purpose young ostriches 

 are run down on horseback, corralled, and driven to the 

 " shamba," or farm, where they soon become very tame 

 and are kept in, strangely enough, by wire fences so frail- 

 looking that it seemed to me that the powerful birds could 

 easily make their escape if they wanted to, for they possess 

 a great deal of strength in their legs. I have heard of at 

 least one authentic case, where a wounded ostrich caused 

 the death of a native by ripping up his stomach with a 

 blow from one of his sharp-pointed toes. 



One very often finds ostrich feathers on the ground, 

 which have fallen ofif the wild birds. These the natives 

 pick up and use in their caps and in a good many orna- 

 ments of war. The meat of one of the ostriches I shot on 

 my first trip in 1906, when each sportsman was allowed 

 to kill two of these birds, was too tough to be palatable, 

 but it may be that the bird was a very old one. The legend 

 that the ostrich never sits upon its nest, or broods over its 

 eggs, is not true in the case of the East African ostrich at 

 least, for I have twice seen female ostriches on their nests, 



241 



