Page:Hunting and trapping stories; a book for boys (IA huntingtrappings00pric).pdf/177

 An Englishman staying in South Africa was invited to shoot some ostriches. He was posted behind a rock, while a horseman drove one of the large birds towards him. He did not take any very careful aim. He fired, and was disgusted to see the dust spattered two yards behind the fleeing bird. Then it was that he realized that he had shot, broadside on, at one of the swiftest of all living creatures.

The arabs hunt the ostriches in the primitive way, that is from the saddle. To catch these large birds it is necessary to surprise them, for they can run at a terrific pace once they get started. Their legs are very long and powerful, causing them to move with a great swinging stride which often covers fifteen or twenty feet of ground. The Arabs mount their fleetest horses, and rush in among the ostriches, and club as many as they can reach.

The ostrich sometimes defends itself, and it is said that an unarmed man on foot would stand no chance against an angry male bird. The toe of the ostrich is large and tough and sharp and is always used in fighting with a slashing, downward stroke. More than one white man has had his side ripped open, or his brains knocked out by a single blow.

The ostrich used to be found in great numbers from Cape Colony to many degrees north, but it was rapidly killed off for the sake of its feathers. As long as the natives hunted it, the slaughter was not very great, but with the coming of the white man and the magazine rifle, all animal and bird life suffered. But even the white hunter has a grain of sense, for he has now taken to raising ostriches on farms for the sake of the feathers.

The ostrich is ugly, vicious, clumsy and stupid. Even its feathers do not look to be worth much until the hand of man has dyed and curled them. Its temper is especially bad and it is as obstinate as a mule. Its digestion is proverbial, for it will swallow bolts, screws, pieces of glass and things like that without apparently suffering any ill effects. You often hear people say that some one has the "digestion of an ostrich."

On the Pampas of South America is to be found an ostrich which is not as large, nor as fine in feathers, as its African cousin. It is possible that the American species has degenerated, for thousands of years ago the ancient Peruvians wore the most magnificent feathers, which apparently came from this bird. The Indians hunt the South American ostrich with the lasso, or "bolas" – that is, a lasso having stones attached at either end of the rope. These stones when flung wind the rope around the ostrich's leg and thus cripple it completely. This "bolas," and the way it is used, has been fully described in other stories in this book.