for a considerable time with food. Their colour is a kind of pepper and
salt, resembling the gravel and sand of the plain over which they roam;
so that it is with the greatest difficulty they can be seen by the
hunter, even when close to them. They are clothed with a kind of
prickly stubble, which is neither down nor feathers, and which probably
defends them from the coarse vegetation and gravel which covers the
region where they exist. The Romans called the ostrich the _Struthio
camelus_, in consequence of its resemblance in many respects to the
camel of the desert. The ostrich, like the camel, is able, from the
formation of its interior, to exist for a long time without water,
feeding on the stunted and dried herbage of the desert. Its foot is
formed curiously, like that of the camel; and it has also excrescences
on its breast, on which it leans whilst sleeping. To complete the
likeness, it has the same muscular neck, which rises high above the
plain, and enables it to perceive the approach of an enemy, while its
body is out of sight.

We had already witnessed the care which a hen-ostrich takes of her nest,
and Donald told us that one day he was riding along, when he came near a
bird evidently sitting. She remained quiet till he advanced, when
instantly she sprang up and rushed towards him, hissing violently. When
he turned round, she retreated a dozen paces or so; but directly he rode
on she again rushed after him, endeavouring by her hisses to frighten
him off.

"Did you kill her, Mr Fraser, after her exhibition of maternal
affection?"

"I did," was the answer; "and got her feathers and her eggs, and I and
my people ate her up afterwards. Necessity has no law, I know; and if a
trader in these regions were to give way to sentiment, he might have to
go back with an empty waggon."

The ostrich has, properly speaking, only the rudiments of wings, which
are utterly unable to lift it off the ground. It is, however, those
magnificent white plumes in the tail and wings which assist it to run at
the rapid rate I have described. Both male and female possess these
white plumes. The body of the male differs from that of the female. It
is of a deep glossy black, among which a few whitish feathers are
mingled, but only visible when the plumage is ruffled.

While we were still talking about the ostrich, Leo started up,
exclaiming, "See! see! there is one just outside the camp. Run for your
gun, Andrew. You may