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NOV 24 1923 
THE WILD OSTRICH 
BY THEODORE ROOSEVELT 
In Mr. Scully’s interesting article 
on the life of the African ostrich, he 
states that, as regards ‘the habits of 
the wild birds, nearly every extant ac¬ 
count bristles with inaccuracies.’ 
In the next paragraph, he states that 
‘ to an unprotected man in the open an 
infuriated ostrich is as dangerous as a 
lion.’ This sentence is itself a ‘bris¬ 
tling inaccuracy.’ If, when assailed by 
the ostrich, the man stands erect, he is 
in great danger. But by the simple ex¬ 
pedient of lying down, he escapes all 
danger. In such case, the bird may 
step on him, or sit on him; his clothes 
will be rumpled and his feelings injured; 
but he will suffer no bodily harm. I 
know various men — including Mr. 
William Beebe — who have had this 
experience. Does Mr. Scully imagine 
that an infuriated lion will merely sit 
on a man who lies down? 
Mr. Scully says that the ostrich is 
the only animal man has domesticated 
because of ‘sheer loveliness, as dis¬ 
tinguished from utility.’ Surely Mr. 
Scully has forgotten that the peacock 
has been domesticated for a far longer 
time than the ostrich. His statement 
that the ostrich plumes are ‘probably 
the most perfect decorative items in 
Nature’s storehouse,’ ought, like any 
such statement, to be put in the form 
of an expression of personal taste; vari¬ 
ous storks, cranes, and herons, not to 
speak of birds of paradise and argus 
pheasants, carry plumes which to a 
multitude of persons with equally good 
taste seem even more beautiful. 
Mr. Scully’s description of the rav¬ 
ages of the jackal among the ostrich 
eggs is of moment. In the course of the 
description he says that ‘the white¬ 
necked raven cooperates with the 
jackal. He will carry a small heavy 
stone up into the air and drop it into 
the nest. Jackal and raven then share 
amicably the contents of the smashed 
egg-’ _ 
This is most interesting, and it is so 
important, that Mr. Scully ought to 
have described in detail the particular 
observations which warrant the vari¬ 
ous features of the statement — the co¬ 
operation, the use of the stone as a tool, 
the amity in sharing the result. Sim¬ 
ilar statements are frequently made, 
usually about vultures. But I wish that 
we could get the testimony of trained 
eye-witnesses. It is not in the least 
impossible: in the same regions in Af¬ 
rica the alliance between the big hon¬ 
ey-badger and the queer honey-bird, 
is much more remarkable. Moreover, 
many birds drop shells on rocks or peb¬ 
bly beaches, to break them; last week I 
saw gulls doing this. But the wielding of 
a stone as a tool marks an effort of in¬ 
telligence akin to that of the higher 
primates, and of man himself at about 
the opening of the Pleistocene; so that 
it would be interesting to have real 
evidence of it. The incident of a raven 
and a jackal sharing the egg is also of 
special interest — entirely possible, of 
course, but as unexpected as a similar 
friendly alliance between a fox and a 
crow; so that it ought to be a subject 
for first-hand testimony. 
In one paragraph Mr. Scully says 
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