THE OSTEICH. 385 



away," says the great naturalist, "as the}^ would likely be b}^ 

 trituration against otber hard bodies, but the}' had been con- 

 siderably reduced by some digestive juice, and presented all the 

 evidence of actual con-osion." 



Herbage, insects, mollusks, small reptiles, and even small mam- 

 malia are the principal food of the Wild Ostrich ; when it is in a 

 state of domesticity even young chickens are frequently devoured 

 by it. It endures hunger, and especially thirst, for many daj^s 

 — about the most useful faculty it could possess in the arid and 

 burning deserts which it inhabits ; but it is quite a mistake to 

 suppose it never drinks, for it will travel immense distances in 

 search of water when it has suffered a long deprivation, and will 

 then drink it with evident pleasure. 



The muscular power of the Ostrich is truly surprising. If 

 matured it can carry a man on its back, and is readily trained 

 to be mounted like a horse, and to bear a burden. The tyrant 

 Firmius, who reigned in Egyjit in the third centur}', was drawn 

 aboiit by a team of Ostriches ; even now the negroes frequently 

 use it for riding. 



When it first feels the weight of its rider, the Ostrich starts at 

 a slow trot ; it, however, soon gets more animated,, and stretch- 

 ing out its wings, takes to running with such rapidity that 

 it seems scarcely to touch the ground. To the wild animals 

 wliich range the desert it offers a successful resistance hj kick- 

 ing, the force of which is so great that a blow in the chest is 

 sufficient to cause death. M. Edouard Verreaux states that he 

 has seen a neo-ro killed bv such a blow. 



Man succeeds in capturing the Ostrich only b}' stratagem. 

 The Arab, on his swiftest courser, would fail to get near it 

 if he did not by his intelligence supply the deficiency in his 

 physical powers. " The legs of an Ostrich running at full 

 speed," says Livingstone, the traveller, " can no more be seen than 

 the spokes in the wheel of a vehicle drawn at a gallop." Accord- 

 ing to the same author, the Ostrich can run about thirtj' miles in 

 an hour — a speed and endurance much surpassing those of the 

 swiftest horse. 



The Arabs, well acquainted with these facts, follow them for 

 a day or two at a distance, without pressing too closely, yet 



c c 



