THE OSTRICH. 15f 



TAME OSTRICH. 



The inhabitants of Lybia keep tame Ostriches, and 

 raise up flocks of them every year, for the sake of 

 procuring their feathers. Travellers, therefore, who- 

 have visited that barren country, have had opportuni- 

 ties of becoming acquainted with the manners of this 

 celebrated bird. From such persons we learn that 

 the Ostrich is by nature kind and playful ; but when 

 insulted and provoked, he makes a fierce, angry, hiss- 

 ing noise, and will attack those who insult him, with 

 his bill, and strike at them with his wings and feet. 

 During the darkness of the night, they make a most 

 doleful, and frightful noise, resembling the growling 

 of the lion, or the hoarse bellowing of a cow. Some- 

 times the noise is like the crying of a hoarse child, but 

 louder and more dismal. 



In the heat of the day these birds strut about in the 

 sun, holding up their heads, and fanning themselves 

 with their wings, at the same time seeming to admire 

 the shadows which they make. With persons of their 

 acquaintance, they are quite familiar, and will come, 

 when called, and eat out of the hand ; but they are 

 sometimes fierce towards strangers, and will try to 

 push them down, by running furiously against them, 

 and when down they will peck them with their bills, 

 and strike them with their feet. 



These birds are so strong as to be able to carry one, 

 oreven two persons, on their backs, and still to run with 

 great swiftness. 



When Mr. Adanson was at Podor, a village on the 

 bank of the river Niger, in Africa, he saw two little ne- 



