WE LIE IN WAIT FOR OSTRICHES. 227 



at each step this was impossible, and we had the dis- 

 appointment of seeing a black ostrich rise from the nest 

 and instantly disappear, when we were a long way from 

 it. We then went up to the nest, and found that it con- 

 tained sixteen eggs, the proper complement being twenty- 

 five, according to the Arab. The nest, if such it could 

 be called, consisted merely of a very shallow depression 

 in the hard-baked soil in the centre of a small burnt-up 

 patch of ground, surrounded by high grass, and though 

 the eggs were closely packed together they covered a 

 considerable space. Vivian and myself were then care- 

 fully concealed in the grass on opposite sides of the nest 

 to watch, and I was so thatched over that I literally 

 could see nothing but the nest. After an hour of this 

 very monotonous amusement, two visitors in the form of 

 vultures pounced down upon the nest, and, apparently 

 quite satisfied with the certainty of a quiet feast, com- 

 menced operations by a personal hunt amongst their 

 own feathers, then a general survey was made of the 

 white objects before them ; and, finally, having retired for 

 a moment, each returned with a stone in its beak, and 

 set to work to hammer a hole through the shell of an 

 egg. But the talents of these experienced old thieves 

 were not allowed to obtain their just reward on this oc- 

 .casion, for whilst thus occupied an ostrich was seen 

 by Vivian approaching the nest, and he fired at it, but, 

 wounded or otherwise, it made good its escape without 



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