The true sport is on horseback. Watching for the bird is no better than taking a sitting shot with us. The former is a noble and royal pastime, the latter is only fit for a common fellow, or a poacher. It is not enough to kill, the thing is to run the bird down. For this purpose the general sort of education given to a horse will not suffice. A special preparation is required, just as a race-horse needs a particular training for some days previous to the contest. Seven or eight days before a hunting expedition, both grass and straw are entirely stopped, and nothing but barley given. The horse is watered only once a day, at sunset, when the water begins to get cool, and he is then washed all over. He is taken out for a long ride every day, now walking, now galloping, during which the rider carefully ascertains that nothing is wanting to the equipment proper for the purpose. At the end of these seven or eight days, say the Arabs, the belly disappears, while the neck, chest, and croup show firm flesh. The animal is then ready to endure the fatigue. This special training is called _teshaha_. The equipment also is modified with a view to lighten the weight. The stirrups should be much less heavy than usual, the saddle-bow very light, the two _kerbouss_, or pommels, of less than the ordinary height and without the _stara_. The breast-band is likewise omitted, and instead of the seven pieces of felt only two are used. The bridle, in like manner undergoes several metamorphoses. The blinkers and headstall are omitted as too heavy, the bit being simply fastened to a tolerably stout camel-rope, without any throat-band, and kept in its place by a make-shift headstall of cord. The reins are also very light, but strong. All four feet are shod. The most favourable season for this sport is during the great heats of summer. The higher the temperature, the less energy does the ostrich possess to defend itself. The Arabs describe the exact period by saying that it is when a man, standing upright, casts a shadow no longer than the sole of his foot. Ostrich hunting implies a regular expedition lasting over seven or eight days. It requires preparatory arrangements which are concerted by ten or a dozen horsemen bound in "a knot," as for a _razzia_. Each hunter is accompanied by a servant, called a _zemmal_, who is mounted on a camel that carries, besides, four goat-skin bags filled with water, barley for the horse, wheaten flour, another kind of flour parched, dates, a pot to boil the food in, leather thongs, a needle, and a set of horse-shoes and nails.