190 



FROM NORTH POLE TO EQUATOR. 



The ostrich, which is bound to the earth, stands in striking con- 

 trast to the short-tailed eagle. He also is the hero of an Arabian 

 legend, which, however, instead of glorifying him, brings him down 

 to the dust; for the story is that the ostrich wished, in the exuber- 

 ance of his vanity, to fly to the sun, but was in his attempt miser- 

 ably burned, and hurled in his present form to the ground. To us 



Fig. 28. On an Ostrich Farm in South Africa. 



his life is all the more worthy of consideration, that many false ideas 

 still prevail both in regard to it and in regard to the bird himself. 



Although occurring in those low grounds of the African and 

 West Asiatic deserts which are richest in vegetation, the ostrich 

 becomes abundant only in the steppe. Here one is almost continu- 

 ally crossing his unmistakable " spoor ", though it is but rarely that 

 one sees the bird. He is tall enough to see over the lofty grasses 

 which conceal him, he is far-sighted and shy, and can therefore 

 usually conceal himself from the approaching traveller. If one 

 succeeds in observing him from a distance, one sees that, except 



