104 THE ZOOLOGIST, 



cock take a standing jump on to the top of a wall five feet high, 

 beyond which were his chicks. When accustomed to run in 

 cut-up veld they become very clever at leaping across sluits. 

 They do not stride over, but, coming almost to a standstill at 

 the edge of each sluit, jump with both feet, often alighting on 

 one foot and striding on at once with the other, like a good 

 steeplechaser. 



Even as a chick the Ostrich is a powerful swimmer. I have 

 known several birds swim some distance down the Great Fish 

 River when it was running fairly strong, and have heard, on what 

 seems trustworthy evidence, of a cock that was carried a long 

 way down the same river when it was running nearly level 

 with its precipitous banks in the stormy season ; he was some 

 hours in the water before he could get out, but emerged unhurt. 



Waltzing and Rolling. 



All Ostriches, adults as well as chicks, have a strange habit 

 known as " waltzing." When chicks are let out from a kraal in 

 the early morning they will often start away at a great pace. 

 After running for a few hundred yards they will all stop, and, with 

 raised wings, spin round rapidly for some time, often until quite 

 giddy, when a broken leg occasionally occurs. Adult birds, when 

 running in large camps, will often, if the veld is good, do the same, 

 especially if startled in the fresh of the early morning. A troop 

 of birds waltzing, in full plumage, is a remarkably pretty sight. 



Vicious cocks "roll" when challenging to fight, or when 

 wooing the hen. The cock will suddenly bump down on to his 

 "knees" (the ankle-joint), open his wings, making a straight line 

 across his breast, and then swing them alternately backward and 

 forward (keeping the line straight) as if on a pivot, each wing as 

 it comes forward being raised while that going backward is de- 

 pressed. The neck is lowered until the head is on a level with 

 the back, and the head and neck swing from side to side with the 

 wings, the back of the head striking with a loud click against the 

 ribs, first on the one side and then on the other. The click is 

 produced by the skin of the neck, which then bulges loosely just 

 under the beak, and for some distance dow r nwards. While rolling, 

 every feather over the whole body is on end, and the plumes are 

 open, like a large white fan. At such a time the bird sees very 



