THE OSTRICH. 
301 
course of their work, let fall a triangular piece of glass. 
Not long after this, the female Ostrich was taken ill, and 
died in an hour or two, in great agony. The body was 
opened, and the throat and stomach were found to have been 
dreadfully lacerated by the sharp corners of the glass, which 
she had swallowed. From the moment his companion was 
taken from him, the male had no rest : he appeared to he 
incessantly searching for something, and gradually wasted 
away. He was moved from the spot, in the hope that he 
would forget his grief ; he was even allowed more liberty ; 
but nought availed, and he literally pined away till he 
died. 
Their swiftness is proverbial ; to run like an Ostrich is, in 
its own country, the same as to say in ours, to run like a 
greyhound. When roused from the desert, with their long 
legs and huge strides, they scour away beyond a horseman’s 
speed, with their short wings expanded to balance them. 
Yain would be the hope to catch them at first setting off, 
for, in a few minutes, they are out of sight. The persever- 
ing hunter, however, keeps on a steady course, sparing his 
horse, till he can again see his game at a distance, when off 
it runs once more, and thus, at length, by over- exertion, 
wears itself out, its joints becoming stiffer after every run, 
till finally the horseman approaches near enough to shoot it. 
In Morocco, the Arabs adopt another method. Mounted 
on swift desert horses, called heiries, they set off in parties of 
about twenty, riding against the wind, till they meet with 
the track of an Ostrich, separated themselves at distances of 
about half a mile apart ; when, as soon as they obtain a view 
of their game, they spur onwards at full speed. For a time, 
the bird runs from them against the wind, till, finding its 
wings an impediment, it turns round and foolishly runs 
towards them, when every huntsman fires, as opportunity 
occurs, until they bring it down. 
At Bornou, in the interior of Africa, they adopt a very 
different method, for which patience instead of speed is 
required : on finding a nest, a hole is dug, in which the finder 
buries himself, leaving only his head and arms free, and 
