THE OSTRICH. 173 



to be so. When caught they are easily tamed, but are of no use 

 in their domesticated state. 



The egg is possessed of very great vital power. One kept in 

 a room during more than three months, in a temperature about 

 60°, when broken was found to have a partially-developed live 

 chick in it. The Bushmen carefully avoid touching the eggs, or 

 leaving marks of human feet near them, when they find a nest. 

 They go up the wind to the spot, and with a long stick remove 

 some of them occasionally, and, by preventing any suspicion, keep 

 the hen laying on for months, as we do with fowls. The eggs 

 have a strong, disagreeable flavor, which only the keen appetite of 

 the Desert can reconcile one to. The Hottentots use their trow- 

 sers to carry home the twenty or twenty-five eggs usually found 

 in a nest ; and it has happened that an Englishman, intending to 

 imitate this knowing dodge, comes to the wagons with blistered 

 legs, and, after great toil, finds all the eggs uneatable, from having 

 been some time sat upon. Our countrymen invariably do best 

 when they continue to think, speak, and act in their own proper 

 character. 



The food of the ostrich consists of pods and seeds of different 

 kinds of leguminous plants, with leaves of various plants ; and, as 

 these are often hard and dry, he picks up a great quantity of 

 pebbles, many of which are as large as marbles. He picks up 

 also some small bulbs, and occasionally a wild melon to afford 

 moisture, for one was found with a melon which had choked him 

 by sticking in his throat. It requires the utmost address of the 

 Bushmen, crawling for miles on their stomachs, to stalk them 

 successfully ; yet the quantity of feathers collected annually 

 shows that the numbers slain must be considerable, as each bird 

 has only a few in the wings and tail. The male bird is of a jet 

 black glossy color, with the single exception of the white feath- 

 ers, which are objects of trade. Nothing can be finer than the 

 adaptation of those flossy feathers for the climate of the Kala- 

 hari, where these birds abound ; for they afford a perfect shade 

 to the body, with free ventilation beneath them. The hen os- 

 trich is of a dark brownish-gray color, and so are the half-grown 

 cocks. 



The organs of vision in this bird are placed so high that he can 

 detect an enemy at a great distance, but the lion sometimes kills 



