THE OSTRICH. 103 



thickness, and break a gap through it ; — all these without injury 

 to the birds. The shape and strength of the breast-bone is also 

 a protection to fighting cocks, for the most powerfully delivered 

 kicks nearly always strike there, doing but little harm. 



During the breeding season cocks often fight, but, unless 

 they kick at each other through a wire-fence (when a broken leg 

 frequently occurs), seldom with fatal results. The kick is for- 

 ward with a downward tendency, and the long nail with which 

 the larger toe is armed often cuts and tears severely. The force 

 of the kick is great; a man goes down before it like a nine-pin. 

 I have seen two cocks charge at each other, the larger of the two, 

 at the first kick, being hurled several yards on to the broad of 

 his back, while the kicker recoiled into a sitting posture ; and I 

 possessed a cock which kicked a hole through a sheet of corru- 

 gated iron, behind which a man had taken refuge. They can 

 kick as high as a man's face ; I have had a hole kicked through 

 my riding breeches above the knee, and have known a boy 

 kicked out of the saddle. Deaths from Ostrich kicks are by no 

 means unknown. A really vicious cock seems to fear nothing, 

 unless it be a dog that will attack him. The most striking 

 instance of their fearlessness which I have heard was told me by a 

 railway guard. The goods train he was in charge of was one day 

 rattling at full speed down a steep gradient. A vicious cock saw 

 it coming, and at once got on to the line between the rails, and 

 advanced fearlessly to fight the monster. • As the screeching 

 engine approached, he rushed at it from straight in front, hissing 

 angrily, and kicked. He was cut to pieces the next moment. 



Leaping and Swimming. 

 The old idea that an Ostrich can only leap over a very 

 low fence, or across but the narrowest sluit (gully), is incorrect. 

 It is true that perfectly tame birds, grazed within well-defined 

 boundaries, may often be kept there with very insecure fences 

 when the birds are thoroughly accustomed to recognize such 

 as boundaries ; but they will, when startled (never deliberately), 

 sometimes go over a six- strand wire fence nearly five feet high, 

 putting one foot on one of the middle wires, and striding over 

 with the other. They will go over a stone wall in the same 

 manner, if too high for them to step upon ; and I have seen a 



