496 
white feathers in the tail. In 
every other respect, the colour ex- 
cepted, their feathers are as good 
as those of the males. It is very 
true, as Mr. Barrow says, that 
small stones are sometimes found 
in the ostriches’ eggs; it is not, 
however, very common: and 
among all that I ever saw open- 
ed, I never met with one. 
LOCUSTS. 
(From the Same.) 
We had scarcely passed the 
northern entrance to the kloof, 
when we perceived by our side 
one of those enormous swarms 
of travelling locusts which I had 
hitherto wished in vain to see. It 
had exactly the appearance of a 
vast snow-cloud, hanging on the 
slope of the mountain, from which 
the snow was falling in very large 
flakes. I spurred my horse up 
the hill to the place where I 
thought the swarm seemed the 
thickest. When I was within a 
hundred paces of them, I heard 
the rushing noise occasioned by 
the flight of so many millions of 
insects ; this constantly increased 
the nearer I approached; and 
when I got into the midst of 
» them, it was, without any exagge- 
ration, as loud as the dashing of 
the waters occasioned by the mill- 
wheel. Above, below, and all 
around me, the air was filled with, 
and almost darkened by these in- 
sects. They settled about the 
bodies of myself and my horse, 
till the latter was so much teased 
and fretted, that he became ex- 
tremely restless, turning his back 
constantly towards the side on 
ANNUAL REGISTER, 1815. 
which their flight was directed. 
Evere stroke of the riding-cane 
swept twenty or thirty to the 
ground, and they lay there so 
thick that it was impossible to take 
a step without trampling a num- 
ber to death. I gathered up some 
for my collection, but found them 
all injured; even those who flew 
before me were obliged almost 
immediately to settle themselves. 
Those that settled were indeed 
only the wounded of the party, 
such as had a leg or wing broken 
in their flight by coming in con- 
tract with their neighbours ; these 
formed a very small part of the 
whole enormous mass. Those 
that flew the highest, rose to fifty 
or sixty feet above the ground ; 
those which did not rise to more 
than twenty feet, rested at every 
hundred paces, and then flew on 
again. They all took exactly the 
same course, not going with 
the wind, but in an oblique direc- 
tion against it, directly towards 
the fields of the Hottentots. I was 
very much alarmed for the young 
corn; but on my return I learnt 
that the swarm had done no mis- 
chief; it had gone over at the dis- 
tance of a thousand paces from the 
fields. They never deviate from 
the straight line, so long as the | 
same wind blows. The bushes 
around were already eaten quite 
bare, though the animals could 
not have been long on the spot, 
since an hour earlier our oxen 
had been grazing, without the 
persons who attended upon them 
having seen a_ single locust. 
Finally, that I might complete 
my survey, I rode against the 
swarm so as to pass them, and 
found that the train extended in 
iength to between two and three 
