2S8 
HUNTING THE OSTRICH. 
In some parts of South Africa he is run down even on foot. Mr. 
Andersson relates that he has seen the Bushmen accomplish this exploit 
on the shores of Lake Ngami; and Harris says that he more than once 
fell in with a large party of Corannas engaged in the same pursuit, and 
knocking the bird off his legs with a club of rhinoceros horn, fashioned 
like a hockey stick. A simpler plan is not unfrequently adopted by 
the native hunter. He seeks out the ostrich's nest, removes the eggs 
to a place of safety, and taking up his post in the empty hollow, bides 
the return of the bird, which he generally contrives to bring down with 
a poisoned arrow. Or he will lie concealed on the reedy margin of a 
ARABS HUXTl.M'. THE OSTRICH. 
pool, and shoot the bird when he comes down to quench his thirst. Or 
he will take a long cord, with a noose at one end, tie it to a sapling 
which is bent downwards, and pin the noose to the ground in such a 
manner that when a bird treads within it, the sapling, springing back 
by its own natural elasticity, suspends the victim in the air, where 
he struggles until death releases him from his sufferings. 
The missionary, Robert Mofiat, describes another and a more ingeni- 
ous stratagem. A kind of flat cushion, he says, is stuffed w^ith straw, 
and shaped into a rude resemblance of a saddle. Except on the under 
part, it is covered over with feathers attached to small pegs, and grad- 
ually the saddle assumes a likeness to the ostrich itself The head 
