ENEMIES OF THE OSTRICH. 263 



his shoulders, takes the bottom part of the neck in his right 

 hand, and his bow and poisoned arrows in his left. Such as 

 the writer has seen were most perfect mimics of the ostrich, 

 and at a few hundred yards' distance it is not possible for the 

 eye to detect the fraud. This human bird -appears to pick 

 away at the verdure, turning the head as if keeping a sharp 

 look-out, shakes his feathers, now walks, and then trots till 

 he gets within bow-shot ; and when the flock runs from one 

 receiving an arrow, he runs too. The male ostriches will, on 

 some occasions, give chase to the strange bird, when he tries 

 to elude them in a way to prevent them catching his scent ; 

 for when once they do, the spell is broken. Should one hap- 

 pen to get too near in pursuit, he has only to run to wind- 

 ward or throw off his saddle to avoid a stroke from a wing 

 which would lay him prostrate." 



But the ostrich has other enemies besides man. Beasts as 

 well as birds are said to seek and devour their eggs with 

 great avidity. According to Sir James Alexander (given on 

 the authority of the natives about the Orange River), when 

 the birds have left their nest in the middle of the day in 

 search of food, '* a white Egyptian vulture may be seen soar- 

 ing in mid-air with a stone between his talons. Having 

 carefully surveyed the ground below him, he suddenly lets 

 fall the stone, and then follows it in rapid descent. Let the 

 hunter run to the spot, and he will find a nest of probably a, 

 score of eggs, some of them broken by the vulture." 



Again, " the jackal is said to roll the eggs together to break 

 them, while the hyaena pushes them off with its nose to break 

 them at a distance." 



Nothing of this kind ever came under my notice, though, 

 on the other hand, I have not unfrequently found the bird it- 

 self destroyed by lions, panthers, wild dogs, and other beasts. 



