THE OSTRICH ii 



if a foe finds them out, a foe that is too formidable to be 

 dismissed with a kick, they have no choice but to get up 

 and run. 



An Ostrich egg weighs about three pounds. It holds 

 almost as much as a couple of dozen hen's eggs, and is 

 said to be delicious eating. Its shell is so thick that 

 it takes some forty minutes to boil. 



In South Africa, in the old days, when Ostriches were 

 plentiful, the Bushman used to look upon their eggs as 

 an important part of his food-supply. The empty shells, 

 having been carefully chipped open at one end, were used 

 by these natives as drinking vessels. " I have often seen 

 Bush-girls come down from their distant homes to the 

 fountain," says Gordon Gumming, "each carrying on her 

 back a kaross or network containing from twelve to 

 fifteen Ostrich - eggshells." These they filled at the 

 spring, and then corked the hole with a simple stopper 

 made of grass. 



The Ostrich is still hunted in certain parts of the 

 great African continent — in the dry wastes of the 

 sun-scorched Sahara for instance, and in Somaliland. 

 Stories of its chase and cajDture in South Africa 

 belong for the most part to days that are now past 

 and gone. 



The Bushman used to have a number of cunning 

 tricks for getting within bow-shot of the great bird, and 

 then discharging his little deadly arrows, with their 

 poisoned tips. One way was to crouch down in the midst 

 of an Ostrich nest, during the parent bird's absence, 

 having first removed the eggs, and when the astonished 

 bird returned, to shoot before it had recovered from its 

 surprise. Another plan was to disguise himself in the 

 skin and plumes of some slaughtered Ostrich, and boldly 



