THE BOOK OF MIGRATORY BIRDS 231 



cent, of their numbers, for an ostrich with a broken tibia 

 is under the sentence of death. 



Almost as interesting as the dancing of the untamed 

 creatures upon the sands of the Sahara are the ostrich races 

 of the Somalis, the swift riders of the desert, equally 

 trained in the use of the horse and the dromedary. In 

 these races we see them also proudly seated on the backs 

 of their strange mounts, showing their skill in what may 

 hardly be correctly termed equestrian exploits. Before 

 the assembled tribes, the ostriches, in groups, with the 

 riders selected by the chiefs, nervously await the signal at 

 which each warrior as if by magic seats himself upon the 

 back of the chosen bird, as surely and silently as a monkey 

 swings from tree to tree. Once mounted, they retain their 

 positions by miracles of agility and address vain and 

 happy before admiring eyes, and their faces lit up with 

 smiles. The ostriches, sharing in the excitement, break 

 into a run, scouring the level w r astes with the swiftness of 

 the Arab horse, and answering the wildly screaming 

 voices of the multitudes by frantic bursts of speed. In a 

 moment, it seems, the excitement dies away ; the fantastic 

 rush of black-faced horsemen, whose glittering eyes scin- 

 tillate, and whose white teeth gleam in the sunlight behind 

 the mast-like necks of the colossal birds, passing as in a 

 dream of disordered sleep, leaves behind as an evidence of 

 reality only the far-off and fading cries of the yelling 

 champions of the tribe. 



AN OSTRICH FARM. 



The ostrich farm is situated on the desert, about eight 

 miles from Cairo. It consists of the house of the manager 

 and the collection of pens or paddocks in which . the 

 ostriches live to produce feathers for ladies, who in many 

 respects are more bird-witted and less wise than the 

 ostriches themselves. The enclosures, in which -are at the 

 present time, 1,100 birds, are not roofed, because the warm 



