92 SAFARI 



that our boys shook with repressed mirth. Osa and I 

 nearly split our sides. As the natives have a some- 

 what anaemic sense of humor, the contagious nature 

 of the hyena's cackle may be judged from this early 

 morning incident. 



The ostrich is a strutter. His stiff-legged walk 

 adds to the air of false dignity about him. The big 

 black male is a great dude. The female is a fitting 

 mate. She is continually preening herself. She 

 rises slightly on her toes and flaps her wings, for all 

 the world like a prim old lady rising and settling 

 herself in a chair. 



Few members of the bird or animal kingdom are 

 wider awake to the proximity of trouble or danger, or 

 more quickly hie themselves to safe groimd when they 

 decide it is time to move, than ostriches. I think 

 the tradition that the ostrich buries its head in the 

 sand on the approach of an enemy rose from the fact 

 that it often gets water by poking its long beak down 

 into the ground and sucking. 



I believe I have told how ordinary quadrupeds 

 seem to be afraid of the ostrich. I have never 

 seen him strike out with his heavy foot, but many 

 a time I have watched herds of zebra and giraffe 

 and others break ranks voluntarily to let the long- 

 legged bird through. 



The funniest sight in the world is to see an ostrich 

 come down off his "high horse." I remember once 



