136 DAYS AND NIGHTS BY THE DESERT. 



ludicrous. At one moment each member of a drove 

 will appear to be seized with an unconquerable 

 desire to kill or maim every individual of his species 

 that he can come in contact with, and so engage in 

 apparently the most bloodthirsty conflicts ; but, with 

 equal rapidity, these tactics will be changed, when 

 one and all, in a long, tortuous figure, will follow 

 each other, spinning out the most wondrous labyrinths 

 of intricate manoeuvres. The Boers say they are 

 mad, the result of having maggots on their brains. 

 That they have large larvae contained in a sac in 

 that locality is certain, but I think it more than 

 doubtful that these maggots cause their eccentric 

 gyrations. 



However, in shorter time than it has taken me 

 to write of the game's advance, the whole squadron 

 passed at a rattling pace. Not requiring more food, 

 I resisted firing for some time, but ultimately the 

 temptation to shoot was too great even for me, 

 when a splendid cock ostrich, in full plumage, came 

 abreast of my position. As the bird was detached 

 by some distance from the rest of this mixed 

 drove, he was going his very best pace to place 

 himself on closer terms with them ; for, let the 

 reader now know, if he did not previously, that 

 ostriches will almost invariably be found in the 

 society of antelopes or quaggas. 



It is impossible to calculate the speed that these 

 birds can travel for a burst of half a mile ; but one 



