THE OSTRICH AND HIS ENEMIES. 
289 
and neck of an ostrich are stuffed, and a small rod is introduced. Then 
the hunter, having whitened his legs with any available substance, 
places the feathered saddle on his shoulders, takes the bottom part of 
the neck in his right hand, and his bow and poisoned arrows in his left. 
Thus equipped, he constitutes as good a " mimic " of the bird as the 
most accomplished " property-maker " of a liOndon theatre could pro- 
duce; and, in fact, at the distance of a few hundred yards it is impossible 
to discover the deception. This " human bird " appears to nibble at the 
verdure, turning his head as if to keep a good look-out, shakes his 
feathers, walks to and fro, then trots, and at last approaches within 
bow-shot; and when the flock runs, because one of them has been 
stricken by his arrow, he runs too. It sometimes happens that the 
male ostriches give chase to the strange bird, when he endeavours to 
elude them in such a way as to prevent them from catching his scent. 
Should they do so, the spell is instantly broken. If a bird overtake 
the deceiver, he runs at once to windward, or throws off his saddle, to 
escape a blow from a wing which would otherwise lay him prostrate. 
Man, however, is not the only enemy of the ostrich. He is hunted 
down and preyed upon by lions, panthers, wild dogs, and other beasts ; 
and the eggs are devoured with avidity by both beasts and birds. Sir 
James Alexander affirms that, when the birds have quitted their nest 
in the middle of the day in quest of food, the traveller may often descry 
the white Egyptian vulture soaring in mid-air, with a stone between 
his talons. After a careful survey of the ground below him, he sud- 
denly drops the stone, and then follows it in rapid descent. If the 
traveller hasten to the spot, he will find a nest of probably a score of 
eggs, and some of them broken by the vulture's ingenious device. Sir 
James adds that the jackal is said to roll the eggs together to break 
them ; while the hyena pushes them off with his nose, to break them 
at a distance. 
It would be pleasant, had we the space, to dilate upon the history 
of the ostrich, and to describe the figure he made in some of the imperial 
shows at Rome's colossal amphitheatre. Wonderful stories about him 
are told by Strabo and Oppian. To some of the Eastern nations he was 
known by the name of the " camel-bird," and a vulgar popular error 
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