THE MERCURY OF THE DESERT. 
287 
by his folly. They begin to run as if to cut off his retreat from the 
passage through which the wind blows ; and though the opposite out- 
let is necessarily unguarded, he darts forward impetuously to pass the 
men, and of course is speared. Whatever the course he once adopts, he 
pursues it to the end, never diverging to right or left. Terror does but 
impel him to quicken his speed, and rush faster into the snare. If 
pursued by dogs, he turns upon them; and his onset is formidable, for 
a single blow from his heavy foot will break the back of the animal 
that receives it. He is sometimes overtaken by the lion, whom he is 
unable to resist. 
When he is feeding, his pace is slow and leisurely, covering from 
twenty to twenty-two inches ; when walking at his ordinary gait, about 
four inches more ; when terrified, he will cover as much as twelve, 
thirteen, and even fourteen feet. In general the eye can no more 
follow the movement of his legs than that of the spokes of a wheel in 
rapid rotation ; but Livingstone apprehends, from observations he once 
made with a stop-watch, that the bird accomplishes three strides a 
second, which, if we reckon each stride at twelve feet, gives a speed of 
twenty-six miles an hour. These Mercuries of the Desert are some- 
times shot by a horseman, if he can contrive to cross their undeviating 
course ; but few Englishmen, says Livingstone, ever succeed in killing 
them. 
Mr. Andersson describes some of the expedients to which the natives 
of South Africa resort to effect the capture of the ostrich. At times he 
is fairly ridden down by men on horseback ; several hunters starting 
from different sides of a large plain, until they hem the bird in, when 
they chase him backwards and forwards until his strength is exhausted. 
But he is also captured by a single horseman. In ordinary circumstances 
this would be impossible with the swiftest horse, but in the hot oppres- 
sive days towards the close of the rainy season he may be seen standing 
on the sultry plain, with wings spread and beak wide open; he is then 
taken with comparative ease. The Arabs of North Africa, as General 
Daumas tells us, pursue the great bird with their swiftest steeds ; not 
attempting to outstrip him, but steadily following him up, day after 
day, until he succumbs to fatigue. 
