They ran into the water both when driven down to a point,
and likewise of their own accord when not 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, when descending the Murrumbidgee, in Australia, saw two emus
in the act of swimming. (5/11. Sturt's Travels, volume 2 page 74.)
The inhabitants of the country readily distinguish, even at a
distance, the cock bird from the hen. The former is larger and
darker-coloured, and has a bigger head. (5/12. A Gucho assured me
that he had once seen a snow-white or Albino variety, and that it
was a most beautiful bird.) 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.
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