Chap. VII. THE OSTRICH. 105 



making a cross cut to their undeviating course, but few 

 Englishmen ever succeed in killing them. 



The ostrich begins to lay her eggs before she has fixed on a 

 spot for a nest. Solitary eggs, named by the Bechuanas 

 tk lesetla," are thus found lying all over the country, and 

 become a prey to the jackal. The nest is only a hollow a few 

 inches deep in the sand, and about a yard in diameter. Sho 

 seems averse to select a place for it, and often lays in the 

 resort of another ostrich. As many as forty-five eggs have 

 been found together. Some of them contain small concretions 

 of the matter which forms the shell, which has given rise to 

 the idea that they have stones in them. Both male and 

 female assist in the incubation. Several eggs are left outside 

 the nest, and are thought to be intended as food for the first 

 hatched of the brood, till the rest coming out the whole can 

 start together in quest of food. I have several times seen 

 young in charge of a cock, who made a very good attempt at 

 appearing lame in the plover fashion, in order to draw off 

 the attention of pursuers. The little ones squat down and 

 remain immovable when too small to run far, but attain a 

 wonderful degree of speed when about the size of common 

 fowls. It cannot be asserted that ostriches are polygamous, 

 though they often appear to be so. When caught they are 

 easily tamed, but are of no use in their domesticated state. 

 The flesh is white and coarse, and when in good condition has 

 some resemblance to tough turkey. 



The egg is possessed of great vital power. One which had 

 been kept in a room during more than three months, in a 

 temperature of about 60°, was found to have a partially 

 developed live chick in it. The Bushmen, when they find a 

 nest, carefully avoid touching the eggs, or leaving marks of 

 human feet near them. They go up the wind to the spot, and 

 with a long stick occasionally remove some of them. Thus, 

 by preventing any suspicion, they keep the hen laying on for 

 months, as we do with fowls. The eggs have a strong dis- 

 agreeable flavour, and it requires the keen appetite engen- 

 dered by the Desert to make them tolerable to a European. 

 The Hottentots turn their trowsers into a bag for carrying 

 homo the twenty or twenty-five eggs usually found in a nest. 

 It has happened that an Englishman, imitating this knowing 



