bserving with anxiety the visit we were paying to her nest.
She had gone away, Timbo said, to feed, or otherwise we should probably
have found her sitting, as the flamingoes do, with her legs astraddle
above it. The poor bird did not attempt to fly, and accordingly gave us
time to secure the eggs in a way which we hoped would prevent their
being broken. Donald had by this time come up, and telling Timbo to
take charge of the eggs, started with me in chase of the ostrich. As we
approached the bird, under the idea perhaps of leading us from her eggs,
or alarmed, more probably, she set off at full speed. It seemed
hopeless, however, to me that we should ever catch her. Away she flew,
at first with small strides, increasing every instant, and extending her
wings like sails. Her feet scarcely seemed to touch the ground, and yet
we could see huge stones thrown up behind her, flying into the air.
"On, lad! on!" shouted Donald. "We will weary her out this hot day.
She will slacken her pace soon, and we may turn her maybe towards Timbo,
if we do not run her down." Instead of pursuing directly in the wake of
the bird, he turned on one side and I on the other; and at length she
began, as he had expected, to slacken her tremendous speed. We were now
moving up on parallel lines at some distance from her. At length we got
ahead, when the bird, wheeling round, started back towards her nest.
"Hurrah!" shouted Donald, "she is ours now!" Again we followed the
mighty bird, never for a moment allowing her to stop. It seemed a
question whether she or our horses would have to give in first. At
length a patch of the candelabra-shaped tree euphorbia appeared in
sight, and the hard-pressed ostrich darted towards it, endeavouring, it
seemed, to force her way through. Pressing on, we were soon close to
her, when Donald, raising his rifle, fired, and the bird fell over. I
was galloping up, when he called to me. "Stand back! You might as well
get near a dying lion! A kick from one of her feet would break your
horse's leg, and kill you, if you got within her reach." In a few
minutes the bird ceased to move, and jumping from our horses we
approached. The ostrich must have been nearly eight feet in height, the
feathers being of an ashy brown colour, slightly fringed with white.
And now, for the first time, I saw those magnificent large plumes of
beautiful white feathers which form the wings and tail of the bird.
These the trader imme