The Horses of the Sahara and the Manners of the Desert

by E.‏ Daumas

When the female returns to the nest, they take care not to molest her, it being the rule to kill the male in the first instance. It is, therefore, customary to await his return from the pasture, which happens about noon, when the hunter holds himself ready. The ostrich, while engaged in incubation, spreads out its wings so as to cover all the eggs. In this position, with its legs bent under the body, the thighs are very conspicuous. This circumstance is favourable to the marksman who aims to break the leg of the bird. All chance of escape is thus cut away, which would not be the case were it is wounded in any other part. As soon as the ostrich is down the hunters run up and cut its throat. The two marksmen come out of their holes, and their companions, attracted by the report, lend their assistance. All traces of blood are quickly covered with sand, and the body of the bird carefully concealed. At sunset the female returns as usual to pass the night close to the nest. The absence of the male causes her no anxiety, for she fancies he has merely gone away to feed, and she quietly sits upon the eggs. She is then killed in the same manner as her mate, by the hunter who has not previously fired. The one who shot the male receives a douro in addition to his proper share; but if, what rarely happens, he should miss his aim, he pays to his companions the value of the bird: "We chose thee," they say, "as the best shot: we placed thee in the good position to do us a benefit, and lo! thou workest us such a wrong as this. Thou shalt pay for it." The hunter who killed the female receives only an egg over and above his share. If he miss, he forfeits what would have come to him from the price of the male and the eggs. The one who is to fire at the male is appointed beforehand.

The nest of an ordinary couple contains from twenty five to thirty eggs, but it frequently happens that several couples combine to lay in common. In that case, they form a large enclosure, and the oldest couple are placed in the centre, with the others around them in regular order—so that, if they are four in number, they will occupy the four angles of a square. When the eggs are all laid they are pushed towards the centre, but not mingled together; and when the oldest male comes to sit the others take their places around, where their eggs were laid—and the same with the females. These companies are composed of the young of the same family—in fact, of the young of the oldest couple. They do not all lay the same number of eggs. The one-year olds, for instance, do not lay more than four or five, and those of a small size. At times as many as a hundred eggs are found in the same nest. These family gatherings are most common where the herbage is most abundant. The Arabs have observed a very singular circumstance. The eggs of each couple in these monster nests are carefully piled up together, with one egg conspicuously at the top. It is the one first laid, and it serves for a special purpose. As soon as the male perceives that the moment has arrived for hatching, he breaks with his beak the egg he judges to be the most forward, and at the same time very carefully makes a small hole in the one which surmounts the others. The latter furnishes their first meal to all the young ones as they are hatched, and, though open, will remain sweet for a considerable time. This quality is peculiarly useful; for the male does not break all the eggs on the same day, but only three or four at a time, when he hears the young ones moving inside. The egg which supplies them with nourishment is always liquid, whether through the prevision of nature, or that the old birds have instinctively avoided sitting on it.

The fledglings, after having partaken of their first meal, and being speedily dried in the sun, begin at once to run about, and at the end of a few days follow the parent birds to the pasture: in the nest, they always nestle under their wings. The nest is generally of a circular form, and is formed in a sandy soil. The ostrich constructs it with its feet, by simply throwing out the sand from the centre to the circumference. The dust raised by this operation may be seen at some distance. The period of incubation lasts ninety nights.

The hunters eat the eggs if they are fresh, and not near ready to be hatched. The shells they either throw away, or take with them, to give as presents to friends, or to deposit them in the koubba.[^[85]] However, for some time past, the Arabs have become aware that eggs are an article of traffic on the seaboard, and they now reserve them for that object.

The ambush hunt is very lucrative. It is quite possible to kill several birds and carry off their eggs. At that season, the ostrich itself is very lean; but, on the other hand, the feathers are better and hold more firmly together. Where several couples are assembled together in one nest, it is only the oldest male and female that are killed. Were the hunters to make as many holes as there are birds, they would very soon be discovered, and the whole company would take to flight.

According to the Arabs, ostriches kill vipers with a stroke of their beak, and swallow them. They eat, also, serpents, locusts, scorpions, lizards, and a very large fruit called hadj, abundant in the desert, and produced by a creeping plant, bitter as turpentine, having leaves like those of a water-melon: in short, they digest anything, even stones. Such is the voracity of this bird that where it is kept in a domesticated state, it bolts everything it comes across, knives, jewelry, bits of iron. The Arab who gave me these details declared that a woman one day had a coral necklace snatched from her neck and swallowed by an ostrich, and I have heard an officer of the African army relate how one tore off and bolted a button from his tunic. It is at the same time very adroit, and will snatch a date from a man's lips without hurting him. When lightnings flash and announce a coming storm, they cannot contain themselves for joy. They jump about, and hasten towards the water of which they are so fond, though capable of long endurance of thirst.

Paternal love is a strong passion in the male ostrich. He never deserts his young, and fears no danger, be it what it may, whether from dogs, hyænas, or man himself. The female, on the contrary, is easily frightened, and forsakes all in her terror. Thus, in speaking of a man who defends his tent with courage, they compare him to the delim; while a feeble, timid man is likened to the reumda. Ostriches are generally met travelling together in couples, or in family parties of four or five couples. But, where rain has fallen, one is certain to find two or three hundreds of these birds together. From a distance, they resemble a flock of camels. They never approach a spot that is inhabited except to drink, after which they flee away in haste.

The Arabs hunt the young of the ostrich by a very simple method. Once upon the track, and at a short distance from the birds, they begin to shout aloud. The young ones, being frightened, run for protection to the parent birds; and the hunters, coming up with them, seize upon their prey in spite of the male, and under his very eyes. The delim becomes terribly excited, and exhibits the most poignant grief. Sometimes greyhounds are employed in this sport. While the old birds are defending themselves against the dogs, the hunters carry off the little ones without any difficulty, and bring them up in their tents, where they are easily tamed. They play with the children and sleep under the canvass. In the wanderings of the tribe they follow the camels. There is no instance of any bird brought up in this way taking to flight. They are full of spirits, and frolic with the horsemen, dogs, etc., etc. Does a hare happen to start up, away go the men in full chace, and the ostrich, becoming excited, rushes after them and takes part in the hunt. If it meets in the douar a child with something in its hand of an eatable nature, it lays him gently on the ground, and endeavours to take it from him. The ostrich is a great thief; or rather, as I have already said, it desires to swallow everything it sees. The Arabs, therefore, distrust it when they are counting out money, for two or three douros would soon disappear.

It is no uncommon thing to see a wearied child placed on the back of an ostrich. The bird proceeds with its burden straight to the tent, the little fellow holding on by its pinions. But it would not submit to carry a heavier load—a man, for example, but would hurl him to the ground by a blow from its wing. On the march, in order to keep it from running about to the right or left, they pass a cord round one of its hocks, to which they fasten another cord by which to hold it. In the desert, the ostrich has no other enemy to fear than man. It can repel the dog, the jackal, the hyæna, and the eagle, but yields, perforce, to man.

I mentioned that there was a third mode of hunting the ostrich, when on its way to water. The Arabs simply make a hole near the water, conceal themselves in it, and fire upon the creature as it approaches to drink.