18 HUNTING CAMPS. 



a mile away. Suddenly they turn and run up the steep 

 cliff of the canadon ; are silhouetted for a moment against 

 the blue sky before they disappear over the edge of sight. 

 These ostriches, to continue the Patagonian name, are with- 

 out exception the wildest and most difficult quarry against 

 which I have ever matched the modern long-range rifle. I 

 have heard it stated as a fact that there is no animal what- 

 ever which can, in any way, compare in quickness of sight 

 with certain birds. I have believed this from very early 

 days when I used to stalk curlew among sand dunes with 

 a rifle. I had but to show a couple of inches of cap, and 

 even if it were motionless, the birds noticed it at once and 

 were off. The ostriches possess the same extraordinary 

 certainty of vision. Added to which they seem to be de- 

 void of the smallest particle of curiosity, a quality which is 

 often the hunter's best ally. I have seen them run on my 

 appearance while they were still on the furthest verge of 

 sight. There is not much to shoot at in an ostrich, and 

 one's chances are generally obtained at fairly long range ; 

 certainly I fired at very many more of the birds that came 

 to bag. An ostrich when hit through the body, however 

 severely, almost invariably makes a short rush of from 

 fifty to one hundred yards before falling dead. During the 

 eight months spent in the country frequented by ostriches 

 and seeing birds on an average at least once a day, and 

 often attempting to get within shot, I secured only twenty- 

 four, and of these I rode down eight with dogs, leaving a 

 total of but sixteen to the rifle. 



As was to be expected, I am not destined to get a shot 

 at the three birds that had escaped out of the canadon, for 

 though I follow them to the point where I had seen them 

 disappear, it is only to find they have vanished altogether 

 among the ridges of the hummocks which had attracted 

 me from the riverbank. Some of these hummocks are 

 covered v/ith grass at the base, but nearly all of them 



