2i6 BIG GAME SHOOTING 



and it is possible at times, by cutting off corners, to 

 get a running shot within a hundred or two hundred 

 yards. Now that ostrich farming is so largely pur- 

 sued in Cape Colony and elsewhere, this bird is not 

 nearly so vigorously hunted for its feathers as was 

 formerly the case. In many parts of South Africa it 

 is still an exceedingly common bird. In the desert 

 north-west region of Cape Colony good troops still 

 wander, and the Kalahari is a veritable stronghold of 

 these birds. Wild feathers are, if in good condition, 

 finer and more valuable than those of the tame bird ; 

 and when ostrich-hunting was pursued in the good 

 days relays of well-mounted Hottentots or Bushmen, 

 stationed far apart, were sometimes employed by up- 

 country hunters and traders to run the great birds 

 down. By this means a whole troop of ostriches 

 were chased to the point of exhaustion and shot. 

 The Bushmen of the Kalahari still stalk the ostrich, 

 habited in the skin of one of these birds, and, using 

 the stuffed head and neck with extraordinary skill, so 

 well imitate the bird that they are enabled to approach 

 a wild troop and shoot the best specimens with their 

 poisoned arrows. 



Ostrich shooting is a by no means easy form 

 of sport, and even a fine rifle-shot finds it a matter 

 of great difficulty to bring down these fleet and 

 suspicious creatures. The best way to secure a good 

 cock is to locate a nest usually the sitting hen 

 betrays herself, and then, ensconcing oneself behind 

 a low extemporised screen or shelter a " hock," as 

 the colonists call it, wait patiently for the approach 



