THE STEPPES OF INNEE AFRICA. 191 



at the breeding season, he is fond of a comfortable and easy-going 

 life. In the early morning, and in the evening, the troop feed busily; 

 at noon they all lie resting and digesting on the ground; sometimes 

 they go together to water or to bathe (even in the sea); later on, 

 they amuse themselves with marvellous dances,*^ jumping round in 

 a circle as if out of their senses, fanning with their wing-plumes 

 as if they would attempt to fly; at sunset they betake themselves 

 to rest, but without neglecting to secure their safety. If a formid- 

 able enemy threaten them they rush off in wild flight, and soon 

 leave him far behind; if a weaker carnivore sneak upon them, they 

 strike him to the ground with their extremely powerful legs. Thus 

 the course of their life runs smoothly, provided that there be no 

 lack of food. Of this they require an enormous quantity. Their 

 voracity is astounding, and not less is the capacity of their stomach 

 to receive vast quantities of all sorts of things, which are either 

 digested, or are retained without injury. Almost everything vege- 

 table, from root-tubers to fruits, is accepted by their stomachs, 

 which have now become proverbial; and so is it with small animals, 

 both vertebrate and invertebrate. But such things by no means ex- 

 haust their menu. The ostrich swallows whatever can be swallowed, 

 gulping down stones a pound in weight, and in captivity not disdain- 

 ing pieces of tiles, oakum, rags, knives, single keys and bunches of 

 keys, nails, pieces of glass and crockery, leaden balls, bells, and 

 many other such things. Indeed, it may fall a victim to its indis- 

 criminating appetite by devouring such stuff" as unslaked lime. In 

 the stomach of one which died in captivity there was found a hetero- 

 geneous mass weighing in all about nine pounds. In the poultry- 

 yard the greedy bird swallows ducklings and chickens as if they , 

 were oysters; it dismantles walls to fill its gizzard with the loose 

 mortar; in short, it will eat anything which is not a fixture. In 

 proportion to the amount of food which it requires — and that is 

 not out of proportion to its size and activity — so is its thirst. Thus 

 it frequents those places where it finds not only abundance of 

 nutritious plants, but also water-basins or springs. If both fail, 

 the ostriches are forced to migrate, and in such cases they often 

 cover great distances. 



