AGE CRY STRENGTH SPEED FOOD. 25 1 



I could never obtain any data that would enable me to 

 form a correct estimate of the age of the ostrich, but it ma}- 

 fairly be concluded that he lives between twenty and thirty 

 years. 



The cry of the ostrich so greatly resembles that of a lion 

 as occasionally to deceive even the natives. It is usually 

 heard early in the morning, and at times also at night. 



The strength of the ostrich is enormous. A single blow 

 from its gigantic foot (it always strikes forward) is sufficient 

 to prostrate, nay, to kill many beasts of prey, such as the 

 hyaena, the panther, the wild dog, the jackal, and others. 



The ostrich is exceedingly swift of foot, under ordinary 

 circumstances outrunning a fleet horse: "What time she 

 lifteth up herself on high, she scorneth the horse and its 

 rider." On special occasions and for a short distance, its 

 speed is truly marvelous, perhaps not much less than a mile 

 in half a minute. Its feet appear hardly to touch the ground, 

 and the length between each stride is not unfrequently twelve 

 to fourteen feet. Indeed, if we are to credit the testimony 

 of Mr. Adanson, who says he witnessed the fact in Senegal, 

 such is the rapidity and muscular power of the ostrich, that, 

 even with two men mounted on his back, he will outstrip an 

 English horse in speed! The ostrich, moreover, is long- 

 winded, if I may use the expression, so that it is a work of 

 time to exhaust the bird. 



The food of the ostrich, in its wild state, consists of the 

 seeds, tops, and buds of various shrubs and other plants.* 

 But it is often difficult to conceive how it can manage to live 

 at all, for one not unfrequently meets with it in regions ap- 

 parently destitute of vegetation of any kind : 



* At the Zoological Gardens, Regent's Park, where at this moment 

 several of these birds are alive, the ostrich is fed on a mixture of oats, 

 barley, chaff, and cabbage, of which the respective quantities are as 

 follows : oats, one pint ; barley, one pint ; chaff, half a gallon ; and 

 cabbage, four pounds. 



