THE OSTRICH. 235 



position for the marksman, who aims always in such a 

 manner as to break the animal's legs, for if only 

 wounded elsewhere it would still have a chance of 

 making its escape. " Immediately tho ostrich is 

 struck down, they run up to it and hleed it. The 

 marks of blood are covered over with sand, the body 

 is carefully hidden." 



At sunset the female returns : the absence of the 

 male does not disquiet it ; she believes it to be feed- 

 ing, and sits on her nest. She is killed by the one of 

 the two hunters who had not fired at the male. 



They also shoot the ostrich when it goes to drink. 

 The hunters simply make a hole near the water, and 

 lie in ambush till the animal comes to quench its 

 thirst. 



The Arabs of the desert say of a good thing, that 

 "it is like hunting the ostrich." 



Bruce relates that the Arabs of Fazolp hunt the 

 ostrich with dogs ; they carry it off dead or alive, 

 when the bird, which they have pursued without 

 relaxation, falls from sheer exhaustion. 



On the other extremity of Africa the bushmen 

 have recourse to strategy. 



They disguise themselves as ostriches. " This dis- 

 guise," says a traveller, " is composed of a kind of 

 saddle, the lower part of which is furnished with 

 ostrich feathers in such a manner as to imitate the 



