OSTRICHES. 147 



Ostriches are long-lived creatures ; indeed, it is im- 

 possible to say what venerable age they may be capable 

 of attaining, for, however old they become, they never 

 show any signs of decrepitude, nor do their feathers 

 deteriorate ; while, as for an ostrich djdng of old age, I 

 do not believe any one has ever heard of such a thing. 

 But it is accident which, sooner or later, ends the career 

 of nearly every ostrich ; and in about ninety -nine cases 

 out of a hundred the disaster is, in one way or another, 

 the result of the bird's own stupidity. There surely 

 does not exist a creature — past earliest infancy — more 

 utterly incapable of taking care of itself than an 

 ostrich ; yet he is full of conceit, and resents the idea 

 of being looked after by his human friends ; and when, 

 in spite of all their precautions for his safety, he has 

 succeeded in coming to grief, he quietly opposes every 

 attempt to cure his injuries, and at once makes up his 

 mind to die. If his hurt is not sufficiently severe to 

 kill him, he will attain his object by moping and re- 

 fusing to eat — anyhow, he dies — often apparently for 

 no other reason than because his master, against whom 

 he has always had a grudge, wishes him to live. He 

 seems to die out of spite ; just as a Hindoo servant will 

 starve himself, waste rapidly away, and finally come 

 and expire at the gate of the employer with whom he 

 is offended. 



The worst and most frequent accidents by which 

 ostriches contrive to make away with themselves are 

 broken legs ; these — even were the patients tractable 

 — it would be impossible to cure, owing to the strange 



