Show OSTRICH HUNTING Profi taMe sport eliat Is making tho african birds scarce an ostrich caaso is very attractive sport or rather the sale of booty is so great as to attract hunters the arabs give themselves to it with a real passion mounted on their fiao little horses they try as much as possible to fatigue tha ostrich for as it is 8 feet high and lias very strong legs it possesses a quickness of movement which the best borso cannot attain it has great endurance overtaken by tho hunter it seeks to defend itself with its feet and wings but more often it still strives to escape b night uttering a plaintive cry in fact the ostrich ia deprived of tho power of flight by reason of its great size tho muscular force with which nature hag endowed it is not equal to lifting such a weight its peculiar organization lias made it the courier of the desert it is able to quickly traverse alie almost limitless tho arab knows very well that it is the habit of the ostrich to make great detours about its nest in a circle ho chases it then without ceasing until it is almost there when worn out it succumbs concealing its head in the sand in order not to see its enemy or instinctively hoping to escape a danger which it cannot see any more this caaso requires eight or ten hours but it offers largo rewards the plumes are worth a considerable sum tho skin makes good leather and the arabs are very fond of the flesh besides in of the fact that it reproduces its species rapidly the ostrich is all the time becoming rarer and it is hunted for export and domestication in other countries it is ono of great resources and may become a new source of prosperity to algerians Alge rians if they are willing to mako the effort the point of the popular saying the stomach of an ostrich has been confirmed recently by an autopsy on one doubtless for a time captive when the following was found in its stomach A parasol handle two keys two great pieces of coal a glove a handkerchief a pair of eyeglasses a ring a comb three large rocks tho necks of two beer bottles the sole of a shoe a bell and a little paris II 11 lustre |