That the Ostrich is extremely voracious is certain. Although the senses of sight and hearing are so highly developed that it is said to distinguish objects six miles off, and the slightest sounds excite its ear, the senses of taste and smell are very imperfect. This is the explanation given for its readiness to swallow unedible substances. In a wild state it takes into its stomach large pebbles, to increase its digestive powers; in captivity it gorges bits of wood and metal, pieces of glass, plaster and chalk, probably with the same object. Herbage, Insects, Molluscs, small Reptiles, and even small animals, are the principal food of the wild Ostrich; when it is in a state of domesticity even young Chickens are frequently devoured by it. It is capable of enduring hunger and thirst for many days—about the most useful faculty it could possess in the arid and burning deserts which it inhabits—but it is quite a mistake to suppose it never drinks, for it will travel immense distances in search of water when it has suffered a long deprivation, and will then drink with evident pleasure. The muscular power of the Ostrich is truly surprising. If matured it can carry a man on its back; and is readily trained to be mounted like a Horse, and to bear a burden. The tyrant Firmius, who reigned in Egypt in the third century, was drawn about by a team of Ostriches; even now the Negroes frequently use it for riding. When it first feels the weight of its rider, the Ostrich starts at a slow trot; it however soon gets more animated, and stretching out its wings, takes to running with such rapidity that it seems scarcely to touch the ground. To the wild animals which range the desert it offers a successful resistance by kicking, the force of which is so great that a blow in the chest is sufficient to cause death. Man succeeds in capturing the Ostrich only by stratagem. The Arab on his swiftest courser would fail to get near if he did not by his intelligence supply the deficiency in his physical powers. “The legs of an Ostrich running at full speed,” says Dr. Livingstone, “can no more be seen than the spokes in the wheel of a vehicle drawn at a gallop.” According to the same author, the Ostrich can run about thirty miles in an hour—a speed and endurance much surpassing that of the swiftest Horse.