In a few moments they would have been beyond our reach, but as they turned to fly the eagle was unhooded. Singling out the male bird the falcon made his fatal swoop, and piercing the skull, the magnificent creature was laid low. Before we could reach the spot the dogs had joined the bird of prey, and were fiercely tearing the flesh and bedabbling the splendid plumes with gore.
This sight grieved us.
"What a pity we could not capture this glorious bird alive!" exclaimed Fritz, as we took its beautiful feathers; "it must, I am sure, have stood more than six feet high, and two of us might have mounted him at once!"
"In the vast sandy deserts where nothing grows, what can flocks of these birds find to live upon?" inquired Ernest.
"That would indeed be hard to say, if the deserts were utterly barren and unfruitful," returned I; "but over these sandy wastes a beneficent Providence scatters plants of wild melons, which absorb and retain every drop of moisture, and which quench the thirst as well as satisfy the hunger of the ostriches and other inhabitants of the wilds. These melons, however, do not constitute his entire diet; he feeds freely on grasses, dates, and hard grain, when he can obtain them."
"Does the ostrich utter any cry?"
"The voice of the ostrich is a deep, hollow, rumbling sound, so much resembling the roar of the lion as occasionally to be mistaken for it. But what does Jack mean by waving his cap and beckoning in that excited fashion? What has the boy found, I wonder!"
He ran a little way toward us, shouting:
"Eggs, father! Ostriches' eggs! a huge nest full—do come quick!"
We all hastened to the spot, and in a slight hollow of the ground beheld more than twenty eggs, as large as an infant's head.