262 MODES OF CAPTURE. 



simpler plan of circumventing the ostrich. Having found its 

 nest, he removes the eggs to a place of safety, and, ensconcing 

 himself in the empty cavity, awaits the return of the bird, 

 which he generally manages to dispatch with a poisoned ar- 

 row. 



At other times the natives lie in wait near pools fre- 

 quented by ostriches, and shoot them when they come there 

 to quench their thirst. If the gun be loaded with swan-shot 

 instead of ball, and one aims at the necks, several may be 

 killed at a single discharge ; but this plan will, of course, 

 never be adopted by the true sportsman. 



Ostriches are also not unfrequently captured in snares (sim- 

 ilar to those made use of for entangling smaller species of 

 antelopes), but I have quite forgotten whether by the neck 

 or the leg. A long cord, having at one end a noose, is tied 

 to a sapling, which is bent down, and the noose pinned to the 

 ground in such a manner that when a bird treads within it 

 the sapling springs back by its own natural elasticity, sus- 

 pending the bird or other animal in the air, and it is only 

 released from its sufferings by death. Strabo and Oppian 

 make mention of snares being employed by the ancients for 

 the capture of ostriches, either alluring them by stratagem 

 into the toils, or driving them en masse by a brisk pursuit 

 with horses and dogs. 



But the most ingenious plan of beguiling the ostrich to its 

 destruction is that described by Mr. Moffat and others as 

 practiced among the Bushmen. The reverend gentleman 

 says : 



" A kind of flat double cushion is stuffed with straw and 

 formed something like a saddle. All except the under part 

 of this is covered over mth feathers attached to small pegs 

 and made so as to resemble the bird. The head and neck 

 of an ostrich are stuffed, and a small rod introduced. The 

 Bushman intending to attack game whitens his legs with any 

 substance he can procure. He places the feathered saddle on 



