262 FACULTIES OF BIRDS. 



its wings, like two arms, keeping alternate motion 

 with its feet. It seldom runs in a direct line, but, , 

 like the hare, doubles, or, rather, courses in a circu- 

 lar manner, while the hunters, taking the diameter 

 or tracing a smaller circle, meet the bird at unex- 

 pected turns, and with less fatigue to the horses. 

 This chase is often continued for a day or two, 

 when the poor ostrich is starved out and exhaust- 

 ed, and, finding all power of escape impossible, it 

 endeavours to hide itself from the enemies it can- 

 not avoid, running into some thicket, or burying its 

 head in the sand ; the hunters then rush in at full 

 speed, leading as much as possible against the wind, 

 and kill the bird with clubs, lest the feathers should 

 be soiled with blood. 



M. Adanson saw two tame ostriches which had 

 been kept two years at the factory of Podor, on 

 the south bank of the Niger. "They were so 

 tame," he says, " that two little blacks mounted 

 both together on the back of the largest : no sooner 

 did he feel their weight than he began to run as fast 

 as ever he could, till he carried them several times 

 round the village, and it was impossible to stop him 

 otherwise than by obstructing the passage. This 

 sight pleased me so well that I would have it re- 

 peated, and, to try their strength, I made a full- 

 grown negro mount the smallest and two others 

 the largest. This burden did not seem to me at all 

 disproportioned to their strength. At first they 

 went a moderate gallop ; when they were heated a 

 little they expanded their wings as if it were to 

 catch the wind, and they moved with such fleetness 

 that they seemed to be off the ground. Everybody 

 must some time or other have seen a partridge run, 

 consequently must know there is no man what- 

 ever able to keep up with it, and it is easy to ima- 

 gine that if this bird had a longer step its speed 

 would be considerably augmented.* The ostrich 

 moves like the partridge, with both these advanta- 



