Page:The Zoologist, 4th series, vol 1 (1897).djvu/133

Rh imperfectly, if at all; in fact, he seems so preoccupied that, if pursued, one may often approach unnoticed. I have walked up to a rolling cock and seized him by the neck, much to his surprise. Just before rolling, a cock, especially if courting the hen, will often run slowly and daintily on the points of his toes, with neck slightly inflated, upright and rigid, the tail half-drooped, and all his body feathers fluffed up; the wings raised and expanded, the inside edges touching the sides of the neck for nearly the whole of its length, and the plumes showing separately, like an open fan, flat to the front, on each side of his head. In no other attitude is the splendid beauty of his plumage displayed to such advantage.

The cry of the Ostrich is very correctly described as a "boom." (The word in use among all Ostrich farmers at the Cape is the Dutch verb "brom"; in English, an Ostrich "broms," or is "bromming.") This cry is confined to the cock. It is uttered spontaneously sometimes, especially at night; but generally it is a challenge to another cock to fight, or a note of courting to the hen. It can only be uttered while the bird is standing still. It is a peculiar muffled round sound, very difficult to locate exactly, and conveys the impression that, if it had free vent, it would become a loud roar. It is made by the bird calling, without allowing any air to escape. Each cry consists of three "booms," two short followed by one long, the bird just catching its breath after each note. As no air escapes, the neck becomes greatly inflated during each "boom," in the third to a remarkable extent. This cry may be repeatedly uttered. At night it sounds weird and wild. A faint yet close imitation may be produced by a person closing his lips tight, and attempting to utter two rather short "boos" with an interval of about a second after each, and then one long one, allowing the breath to come into the mouth, but not to escape. The cheeks will become distended just as the neck of the Ostrich does.

There are other sounds common to both sexes—an angry hiss, a subdued guttural gurgle (uttered occasionally when much frightened), and a short sharp note, generally an alarm signal. There is also the penetrating plaintive call of chicks of all ages, a liquid, tremulous, treble cry.