BIRDS. 429 



night — for forty-two days, and then the callow brood is hatched, the 

 operation taking just twice the time that it docs with our familiar barn- 

 yard fowl. When they escape from the eggs the chicks are covered with 

 a light-colored down, barred along the back with black. They, like old 

 birds, feed upon grass, leaves, insects, and occasional reptiles; grow rap- 

 idly, and assume the adult plumage in the third year. The young ostrich 

 is peculiar in its fondness for dancing. It will run a few steps, then turn 

 around, sometimes five or six times ; a few steps more, and then another 

 whirl, and so on, for an hour at a time. An ostrich-hunt is a serious 

 affair, as the following account, by Canon Tristram, will show. The scene 

 is laid in northern Africa. 



"The capture of the ostrich is the greatest feat of hunting to which 

 the Arab sportsman aspires, and in richness of booty it ranks next to the 

 plunder of a caravan. But such prizes are not to be obtained without cost 

 and toil, and it is generally estimated that the capture of an ostrich or two 

 must be at the sacrifice of the lives of two horses. So wary is the bird, 

 and so open are the vast plains over which it roams, that no ambuscades 

 or artifices can be employed, and the vulgar recourse of dogged persever- 

 ance is the only mode of pursuit. The horses to be employed undergo a 

 long and painful training, abstinence from water and a diet of dry dates 

 being considered the best means for strengthening their wind. The hunters 

 set forth with small skins of water, strapped under their horses' bellies, 

 and a scanty allowance of food for four or five days, distributed judiciously 

 about their saddles. The ostrich generally lives in companies of from four 

 to six individuals, which do not appear to be in the habit, under ordinary 

 circumstances, of wandering more than twenty or thirty miles from their 

 headquarters. When descried, two or three of the hunters follow the herd 

 at a gentle gallop, endeavoring only to keep the birds in sight, without 

 alarming them, or driving them at full speed, when they would soon be 

 lost to view. The rest of the pursuers leisurely proceed in a direction at 

 right angles to the course which the ostriches have taken, knowing by 

 experience their habit of running in a circle. Posted on the best lookout 

 they can find, they await for hours the anticipated route of the game, cal- 

 culating upon intersecting their path. If fortunate enough to detect them, 

 the relay sets upon the now fatigued flock, and frequently succeeds in 

 running one or two down, though a horse or two generally falls exhaust ed 

 in the pursuit. The ostrich, when overtaken, offers no resistance besides 

 kicking out sideways." 



In 1862 the first attempt at ostrich-farming was made in the Cape 

 Colony. Three years later only eighty tame birds were reported ; but the 

 success was so great that in 1875 it was estimated that there were fifty 



