40 HOME LIFE ON AN OSTRICH FARM. 



work of ridding us of the intruders. He would lie in 

 ambush for them, and when, much to his delight, they 

 appeared inside the gate, he would rush to the attack, 

 chasing first one and then another about the garden 

 till he caught it ; then, lifting it and carrying it out in 

 his mouth as gently as a cat carries her kitten, he 

 would deposit it outside, with much angry quacking or 

 frightened screeching from the victim, as the case 

 might be, but without the loss of a feather. 



Once he, in his turn, was attacked by a pugnacious 

 goose, which he was endeavouring to drive out of the 

 garden ; and which turned on him savagely, keeping 

 up a desperate battle with him for a long time, until it 

 was quite exhausted, and sat down panting. It chased 

 him many times round our small lawn, and once, in its 

 excitement, put its head right into his mouth. Luckily 

 for the goose, Toto was so utterly bewildered by its 

 strange conduct, that he missed the golden opportunity 

 of snapping ofl'the imbecile head so invitingly presented. 



He was equally zealous in keeping the garden free 

 from cats ; and in pursuit of one of these he actually 

 climbed so far into the lower branches of a tree that 

 his victim, evidently expecting to see him come all the 

 way to the top, gave himself up for lost, and dropped 

 to the ground in a fit. 



Imported dogs often die in South Africa ; especially 

 if they remain near Port Elizabeth, or if they have 

 distemper, which is much more severe in the colony 

 than it is in Europe. Poor Toto laboured under both 

 these disadvantages ; for during our stay at VValmer he 



