Ostrich catching. 



CHAPTER XXXIV. 



THE OSTRICH AND THE CASSOWARY. 



Size of the Ostrich — Its astonishing Swiftness — Ostrich Hunting — Stratagem of 

 the Ostrich for protecting its Young — The poisoned Arrow of the Bushmen — 

 Enemies of the Ostrich — The White Vulture — Points of Eesemblance with 

 the Camel — Voice of the Ostrich said to resemble that of the Lion — Its Vora- 

 city — Ostrich Feathers — Bochuana Parasols — Domestication of the Ostrich in 

 Algeria — The American Kheas — The Cassowary — The Australian Emu. 



IN the African plains and wildernesses, where the lion seeks 

 his prey, where the pachyderms make the earth tremble 

 under their weighty strides, where the giraffe plucks the high 

 branches of the acacia, and the herds of the antelope bound 

 along : there also dwells the Ostrich, the king of birds, if size 

 alone give right to so proud a title ; for neither the condor nor 

 the albatross can be compared in this respect to the ostrich, 

 who raises his head seven or eight feet above the ground, and 

 attains a weight of from two to three hundred pounds. His 

 I small and weak wings are incapable of carrying him through 

 the air, but their flapping materially assists the action of his 

 legs, and serves to increase his swiftness when, flying over the 

 plain, he "scorns the horse and its rider." His feet appear 



