THE OSTRICH. 227 



everywhere in "Western Asia the Ostrich seems to be a rapidly-decreasing bird. Canon Tristram 

 states that even at the present day the bird occasionally wanders from Arabia towards the Belka, to 

 the south-east of Palestine, and he himself obtained a specimen there, shot by Sheikh Agyhle Agha. 



In Egypt and Nubia the Ostrich is now seldom found, and it scarcely ever occurs north of 17 

 K lat. In 1816 Burckhardt saw many wild Ostriches in the plains of El Mograh, between Cairo and 

 Suez ; but Von Heuglin searched for them in vain in Central Egypt and the Lybian Desert, though 

 lie was informed by Prince Halim Pasha, a " trustworthy hunter," that he had found freshly-disturbed 

 Ostrich nests and breeding-places within a few clays' journey from Cairo. The species is found 

 from Southern Algeria throughout Africa to the interior of Cape Colony, wherever an open country 

 suits its nature, and where increasing cultivation and persistent hunting have not driven it 

 away.* They are not found, for instance, on the West Coast of Africa, which is girt by a belt 

 of forest land, nor do they occur in many parts of the East Coast, like Zanzibar and Mozambique, 

 such skins and eggs as are sold in these places being brought from the interior. Some orni- 

 thologists consider that there are two species of Ostrich in Africa, and the late Mr. Andersson affirmed 

 from his own experience that two, if not actually three, kinds of Ostrich were to be met with in South 

 Africa alone. In one species he states that the male is black, while the female is grey, and in the 

 second species the male is like the same sex of the ordinary kind, but is rather larger, while the 

 female is jet-black like the cock bird. The existence of the third species depended very much on 

 native testimony, but Mr. Andersson was inclined to believe in it. 



The mode of hunting the Ostrich is different in various parts of Africa. In ancient times Strabo 

 speaks of a tribe in Lybia, which he calls Struthiophagi, or Ostrich-eaters, who used to cover them- 

 selves with an Ostrich-skin, and thrusting the right arm into the skin of the neck, which they held 

 aloft, by this device easily approached their game and killed it Similar to this in some respects is 

 the well-known method of the Bushman, who clothes himself in the skin of one of the birds, and 

 imitates their motions so exactly that it is almost impossible to detect the difference at a little distance 

 off. The sham bird approaches from the leeward side of the flock, for if once a bird winds him off 

 it goes, and all the trouble is taken for nothing. " Now it turns its head as if keeping a sharp look- 

 out ; now it picks at the verdure on the ground, or at any water-melon or shrub which may be in its 

 path ; now it shakes its feathers, sometimes trotting and sometimes walking, until at length the waiy 

 Bushman gets within bow-shot of some unlucky bird, and when, having discharged his airow, one of 

 the flock runs off in any direction, the sham bird runs off too. The rest of the flock are quite unable 

 to understand why their comrade should suddenly run away and then lie down, and they allow their 

 enemy to follow them up until they share the same fate. Several are often secured in this way before 

 they get scent of the impostor." In Morocco the only way to approach the Ostrich is on horseback, 

 as no artifices can be emploved, the birds being so wary and the plains so vast on which they are 

 found. The horses are stated by Canon Tristram to undergo a long and painful training abstinence 

 from water as much as possible, and a diet of dry dates being considered the best means of strength- 

 ening their wind. The hunters of the tribes to the east of the M'zab set forth with small skins of 

 water strapped under their horses' bellies, and a scanty allowance of food for four or five days judi- 

 ciously distributed about their saddles. As soon as the birds are descried, two or three of the hunters 

 follow the herd at a gentle gallop, endeavouring only to keep the birds in sight, without alarming 

 them or driving them at full speed, when they would soon be lost to view. The rest of the pursuers 

 leisurely proceed in a direction at right angles to the course the Ostriches have taken, knowing by 

 experience their habit of running in a circle. Posted on the best look-out they can find, they await 

 for hours the anticipated route of the game, calculating upon intersecting their path. If fortunate 

 enough to detect them, the relay sets upon the now fatigued flock, and frequently succeeds in running 

 down one or more, though some of their horses usually fall exhausted in the pursuit. The bird, when 

 overtaken, offers no resistance beyond kicking out side ways, f Ostriches are also captured by the 

 Bushmen by means of pit-falls or with the lasso, and the Somali tribes hunt in the same way. The 

 birds are often shot at the pools to which they 1'esort for drink, and they seem to be fond of standing 

 in the water in the heat of the day, Von Heuglin having stated that Ostriches often resort to the 



* Dr. Hartlaub, in the " Vogel Ost Afrika's," by himself and Dr. Finsch, gives a very good monograph of the Ostrich, 

 t Hartlng, "Ostriches," &c., p. 46. 



