FEATHERS AND HATS is 
but its story is much more cheerful. Its feathers may 
be worn by every one, for it is not necessary to kill or hurt 
the bird in order to get them. Some of you have guessed 
its name already, I am sure. 
The Ostrich 
‘*Ostriches live in warm countries as well as Herons, but 
here the comparison begins and ends, for the Ostrich loves 
the open sandy desert and was originally found wild in 
Africa, Arabia, and also in Persia. The Ostrich, the larg- 
est bird now alive, is most peculiar both in appearance and 
habits. Standing sometimes eight feet in height, it has a 
long, almost bare neck, and small stupid-looking head; 
its wings are so small that it cannot fly, but its strong legs, 
ending in two-toed feet, give it the power of running as 
fast as a horse, and it can kick like a horse also, with this 
difference, — an Ostrich kicks forward so if you wish to be 
perfectly safe you must stand behind it! At the base of the 
wings and tail grow tufts of long and substantial feathers, 
the wing tufts being the longer and best. In truth, but for 
the fact of the feathers that cover its body, no one would 
guess that it was a bird, and even with these it looks 
like some strange beast that has put on a borrowed coat 
to go, perhaps, to the great Elephant Dance that little 
Toomai saw once upon a time in the Jungle, about which 
Rudyard Kipling tells so well that sometimes we wake 
up in the morning and really believe that we ourselves 
have ridden to the dance upon the great Elephant instead 
of Toomai. 
“In wild life birds have always been hunted for their 
