THE OSTRICH 217 



of the male. In this way a fairly easy shot can be 

 obtained, and occasionally both birds are bagged. It 

 sometimes happens that an ostrich may be stalked on 

 a plain where bushes offer suitable cover and careful 

 approach can be made. These birds have an 

 exquisite sense of smell and wonderful eyesight, and 

 the stalker who can manage to outmanoeuvre them 

 well deserves his booty. In South Africa the feathers 

 of a good wild cock, in fine plumage, are worth from 

 20 to 25 ; those of a good hen about 10. The 

 egg of an ostrich is naturally somewhat coarse, but 

 it makes excellent omelettes and pancakes, and a wild 

 nest is usually greeted by the up-country wayfarer 

 with much contentment. An ostrich egg weighs 

 about 3 Ibs., and is equal to twenty-four or twenty- 

 six hen's eggs. Ostriches at times, especially at 

 early morning, produce a strange booming sound, 

 which has been likened to the roaring of the lion. 

 There is, certainly, a similarity between the two 

 sounds ; but no native or Boer will mistake the note 

 of an ostrich for that of a lion, and most Europeans, 

 familiar with the voice of either animal, are able at 

 once to detect the difference. 



Some five species of ostrich have at present been 

 determined ; but hitherto scientific naturalists have 

 not paid much attention to this subject. Those at 

 present known are : the common ostrich (Struthio 

 camelus], the South African ostrich (S. australis), the 

 Somaliland ostrich (S. molybdophams], and the Masai- 

 land ostrich (S. massaicus'). The tendency of the 

 naturalist, however, is certainly towards a multiplica- 



