274 THE WORLD OF ANIMAL LIFE 



although it is a wary bird, it is not very clever, a native hunter 

 takes the skin of a dead ostrich, and puts it over his own body. 

 He holds the head up in the air by means of a stick, and then, bow 

 and arrows in hands, begins to walk slowly up to the ostriches he 

 wishes to kill. 



Every now and then he stops, bends the head of the dead bird 

 down to the ground as though it were feeding, and then moves 

 on as before. The ostriches, of course, see their enemy approach- 

 ing, but are deceived, by the skin which he wears, into thinking 

 that he is one of themselves. As soon as he is sufficiently close, 

 the hunter fits an arrow carefully into his bow, and discharges it 

 into the body of the nearest ostrich. The arrow is so small that 

 it would scarcely inflict a deadly wound upon a great bird like 

 the ostrich; but it is dipped into a most deadly poison, and the 

 ostrich which has been struck by it soon falls down dead. The 

 others, according to accounts, do not seem at all alarmed by the 

 death of their comrades, and go on feeding. Thus the hunter 

 is able to kill as many ostriches as he wishes. 



The ostrich lives in the hot, sandy deserts of Africa, and is 

 among birds very much what the camel is among mammals. So 

 strong is the likeness, indeed, that the ancients used to call the 

 ostrich the " camel-bird " 



It has large, broad feet, like those of the camel, and for the 

 same purpose. Both the camel and the ostrich are obliged to 

 travel over loose, sandy soil, into which their feet would sink if 

 they were formed like those of other animals. But these large, 

 broad feet sink only slightly ; and so the birds can travel upon the 

 sand as easily as upon a road. 



Over the breast-bone of the ostrich is a hard, horny pad, like 

 the pads on the knees and chest of the camel. In both cases the 

 reason for their presence is the same. When the camel kneels 

 down upon the sand, its knees and breast would be chafed and 

 cut, if it were not for the pads which protect them. In the same 

 way, when the ostrich sits down — as upon its eggs, for example — 

 its breast rests upon the sand. So that is protected in just the 

 same manner. 



In this way, again, therefore, there is a likeness between the 



