THE OSTRICH. 229 



here and there, and casts her looks all round for fear 



that some one should observe her ; at last, overcome, 



and yearning with maternal love, she spreads her 



wings like a sail, and, carried away in a blundering 



; blind ' career, she rushes upon her ; nest, but oh, 



' t touching spectacle ! she encounters the spears, and 



perishes, pierced through and through. The hunter 



then conies up and takes the little ones with their 



mother. " 



Let us now pass on to more positive facts. At 

 Khartoum, an old negro, who in his youth had been 

 one of the most intrepid buccaneers of the country, 

 thus described the hunt of the ostrich, as it is now 

 practised by the natives : 



" The ostrich is hunted on horseback, and the riders 

 are obliged to be accompanied by camels laden with 

 provisions. When one is discovered, they follow it 

 slowly without losing sight of it : the colossal bird 

 is not slow in leaving them far behind; but having 

 reached a certain distance, as if to bid defiance to 

 the hunters, it stands and awaits them ; when they 

 are on the point of coming up with it, it starts off 

 on its rapid course, and then again waits for them. 

 The riders always follow it slowly. It is usually at 

 daybreak that the hunters commence the campaign, 

 and whilst the heat is not too much felt the ostrich 

 can, without danger, make parade of its superior 



