frightened: the distance crossed was about two hundred yards. When
swimming, very little of their bodies appear above water; their necks
are extended a little forward, and their progress is slow. On two
occasions I saw some ostriches swimming across the Santa Cruz river,
where its course was about four hundred yards wide, and the stream
rapid. Captain Sturt, [11] when descending the Murrumbidgee, in
Australia, saw two emus in the act of swimming.
The inhabitants of the country readily distinguish, even at a distance,
the cock bird from the hen. The former is larger and darker-coloured,
[12] and has a bigger head. The ostrich, I believe the cock, emits a
singular, deep-toned, hissing note: when first I heard it, standing in
the midst of some sand-hillocks, I thought it was made by some wild
beast, for it is a sound that one cannot tell whence it comes, or from
how far distant. When we were at Bahia Blanca in the months of
September and October, the eggs, in extraordinary numbers, were found
all over the country. They lie either scattered and single, in which
case they are never hatched, and are called by the Spaniards huachos;
or they are collected together into a shallow excavation, which forms
the nest. Out of the four nests which I saw, three contained
twenty-two eggs each, and the fourth twenty-seven. In one day's hunting
on horseback sixty-four eggs were found; forty-four of these were in
two nests, and the remaining twenty, scattered huachos. The Gauchos
unanimously affirm, and there is no reason to doubt their statement,
that the male bird alone hatches the eggs, and for some time afterwards
accompanies the young. The cock when on the nest lies very close; I
have myself almost ridden over one. It is asserted that at such times
they are occasionally fierce, and even dangerous, and that they have
been known to attack a man on horseback, trying to kick and leap on
him. My informer pointed out to me an old man, whom he had seen much
terrified by one chasing him. I observe in Burchell's travels in South
Africa, that he remarks, "Having killed a male ostrich, and the
feathers being dirty, it was said by the Hottentots to be a nest bird."
I understand that the male emu in the Zoological Gardens takes charge
of the nest: this habit, therefore, is common to the family.
The Gauchos unanimously affirm that several females lay in one nest. I
have been positively told that four or five hen birds have been watched
to go in the middle of the day, one after the other, to the same nest.
I may add, also, that it is believed in Africa, that two or more
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