328 NATURAL HISTORY IN ANECDOTE,

ORDER xX, This order includes the Ostrich, the Rhea, the
The Cassowaries and the Emus. The Ostrich be-
Ostriches. longs to Africa, Australasia, and South America.
It is the largest of the birds, attaining to a height of six
feet, and a weight of three hundred pounds. It is hunted
for the sake of its feathers, but being very swift of foot has
to be circumvented by strategy. It is said to run in large
curves, which habit gives the hunter the opportunity of riding
straight and intercepting it. “A favourite method adopted
by the wild Bushman for approaching the Ostrich and other
varieties of game,” says Captain Cumming, “is to clothe him-
self in the skin of one of these birds, in which, taking care
of the wind, he stalks about the plain, cunningly imitating
the gait and motions of the Ostrich, until within range, when,
with a well-directed poisoned arrow from his tiny bow, he
can generally seal the fate of any of the ordinary varieties
of game.” The eggs of the Ostrich are also much prized.
“The nest,” says Captain Cumming, “is merely 2 hollow
scooped in the sandy soil, generally amongst heath or other
low bushes; its diameter is about seven feet; it is believed
that two hens often lay in one nest. The hatching of the
eggs is not left, as is generally believed, to the heat of the
sun, but, on the’ contrary, the cock relieves the hen in the
incubation. The eggs form a considerable item in the Bush-
man’s cuisine, and the shells are converted into water flasks,
cups, and dishes. I have often seen Bush-girls and Bakala-
aari women, who belong to the wandering Bechuana tribes
of the Kalahari desert, come down to the fountains from
their remote habitations, sometimes situated at an amazing
distance, each carrying on her back a kaross, or a net-work
containing from twelve to fifteen ostrich egg-shells, which had
been emptied by a small aperture at one end; these they
fill with water.”
The Ostrich The Ostrich shows the same affection for its
end its Young. mate, and the same devotion to the care of its