Ostrich distribution and exploitation in the
Arabian peninsula
D.T. POTTS*
Ethnohistoric and representational as well as egg-shell evidence shows that the ostrich
was widely distributed in Arabia. However, the absence of ostrich bones in the
archaeological record suggests that they were n o t hunted for meat.
Key-words: ostrich egg,Arabian peninsula
Introduction
Consider these two facts:
1 not one ostrich (Struthio camelus syriacus)
bone has ever been recorded in an archaeological excavation anywhere in the Arabian peninsula;
2 the ostrich does not inhabit this region today.
If a statement of this sort were made about virtually any other bird or animal, one would not hesitate to declare its historic absence kom the region
in question. Yet the presence of ostrich in Arabia
in the recent past is demonstrated with certainty
by numerous sightings reported in the ethnohistoric literature and its presence in the more
remote past is strongly suggested by depictions
of ostrich in petroglyphs, on rock reliefs and on
painted pottery; and by finds of ostrich egg-shell
on archaeological sites. Apart from providing a
cautionary lesson in the tradition of that timehonoured maxim, 'absence of evidence is not
evidence of absence', an examination of the Arabian finds may help to resolve at least three outstanding questions of more general interest:
1 how widespread was the genus Struthio in
the past?
2 what does the occurrence of ostrich eggshell
on archaeological sites tell us about the
geographical distribution of Struthio
populations in the wild? and
3 to what extent was ostrich actively hunted
in antiquity?
How widespread was the genus Struthio in
the past?
Miocene finds (6-8 million years old) of fossil
ostrich egg-shell from the Baynunah Formation
(FIGURE
1)in western Abu Dhabi (Whybrow &
Clements 1999a:table 23.3; 1999b: 467) strongly
suggest that Struthionids were indigenous to
the Arabian peninsula rather than immigrants
from North Africa, as so often assumed (e.g.
Finet 1982: 71; Camps-Fabrer 1995: 427). Ornithologists have suggested that the range of
Struthio camelus syriacus was originally between c. 34" and 22"N, or roughly from the
Damascus-Baghdad line to a point just south
of Riyadh, and from Sinai in the west to the
Euphrates and Gulf region in the east
(Meinertzhagen 1954: 574; Greenway 1967: 140).
Yet such a view belies a northern bias in the
modern sources (TABLEI ) ,most of which derive from 18th-century East India Company
merchants, 19th-century travellers and early
20th-century political and military officers active in the north Arabian desert between Syria
and the Mesopotamian plain. Indeed, so common were sightings in this region during the
19th century that Victorian travellers who failed
to see an ostrich in their wanderings (e.g. Blunt
1880: 96; Euting 1886: 277) felt aggrieved enough
to comment upon it.
It is clear, however, that the ostrich originally inhabited areas stretching far to the south
of the 22nd parallel. Ibn al-Mujawir, for example, says that ostriches (Arabic na'am) abounded
in Yemen, i.e. the extreme southwest of the
peninsula, during the 13th century (Serjeant
1976: 2, cf. Wadi Na'am which runs south towards the western end of Wadi Hadramawt just
above Shibam), suggesting that the southern
range of the ostrich should be extended to at
least 14"N. The continued presence of the os-
Archaeology, University of Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia. dan.pottsQarchaeo1ogy.usyd.edu.au
Received 1 June 2000, accepted 24 July 2000, revised 7 September 2000.
ANTIQUITY
75 (2001): 182-90
OSTRICH DISTRIBUTION AND EXPLOITATION IN THE ARABIAN PENINSLJLA
183
\-“
‘
Chalib’bis’
Baynunah
Abu Dhabi Airport
Kub a/-Khaii
Wadi Dawasir
”
NaJran\
as-5awda
’
Wahiba Sands 26 & 60
/
Finds of Arabian ostrich
N
(5truthio camelus syriacus)
eggshell in t h e Arabian peninsula
500 kma
All loca: 0115.distani.rc> and boundariee are appm’mate.
FIGURE1. M a p of sites mentioned in the text.
trich in southern Arabia as late as the early 20th Bey 1996: 172; Hellyer 1992: 24; contra Thesiger
century is also suggested by the testimony of 1950: 151).
Unfortunately, the anecdotal nature of the
an Otaibi tribesman who told J.J. Hess that, while
his father used to hunt ostrich in central Ara- evidence just reviewed compounds the diffibia, they now occurred only ‘in the south’ (Pieper culty of estimating the ancient range of Struthio
in Arabia since it is derived almost entirely from
1923: 34). This is supported by Bertram Thomas who, in 1931, wrote, a propos the eastern the testimony of European travellers. FortuRub al-Khali, that although ‘Members of my nately, pictorial evidence from Arabia can be
party had shot ostriches here . . . firearms and drawn upon to document the presence of the
the pursuit of an unenlightencd self-interest by ostrich there in the past. While it is virtually
the Badu have extinguished the ostrich’ (Tho- impossible, in the present state of research, to
date the petroglyphs depicting ostriches in
mas 1931: 214; 1932: 147). Although Philby
suggested in 1933 that the ostrich had been Arabia, it is striking that these occur ail ovor
hunted out of existence in the southern R L ~the peninsula. In the north, we find ostrich
al-Khali ‘about forty or fifty years’ earlier (Philby representcd in the Hijaz (Winnett 8r Reed 1970:
1933b: 9; cf. Pollog 1934: 139; Philby 1950: 215), figure 4; Koenig 1971: S.V. index ‘Autruche’),
Meinertzhagen believed it only became extinct the Jawf-Sakaka region (Parr et al. 1978: 48)
around 1941 (Mcinertzhagen 1954: 574) while, and the Nefud (Howe 1950: 9, with references).
according to Greenway, the last Arabian ostrich Ostrich petroglyplis can also be found in the
was ‘killed and eaten by Arabs near the oil pipe central-western (Zarins et al. 1980: 31) and
south-central portions of the peninsula
line north of Bahrein, Hasa Province, between
(Ryckmans 1949: plate V, 4 2 8 abc; Anati 1968:
1940 and 1945’ (Greenway 1967: 139; cf. Heard-
1 a4
D.T. POTTS
figures 85-6; 1974: figure 189; cf. Ryckmans
1976: 295), in the Wadi Dawasir and Najran
areas (Zarins et al. 1981: 35; Kabawi eta]. 1996:
57) and in Oman (Clarke 1975: 114, location
unspecified). Incised representations of ostriches
in South Arabian reliefs are known from asSawda (ancient Nashshan), where they have
been dated to the 8th century BC (Audouin 1996:
141 and figures 3, 7.1), and on the door jambs
of a temple at El Hazm (ancient Haram) (Fakhry
1952: 145, figure 101; cf. Hofner 1965: 541;
Ryckmans 1976: 285, 295; 1993: 140-41). By
themselves these depictions do not constitute
unequivocal evidence that ostrich once lived
in Yemen, but in conjunction with the testimony of Ibn al-Mujawir, cited above, this seems
highly plausible.
To this pictorial evidence we may add also
representations of ostrich on locally made,
painted pottery where it is reasonably certain
that we are not dealing with foreign, imported
wares. A painted ceramic beaker from Shimal
tomb 6 of early 2nd millennium BC date (FIGURE 2) showing what appears to be a frieze of
ostriches (de Cardi 1988: figure 5.6) finds a virtually identical parallel in a contemporary sherd
from Tell Abraq (FIGIJRE
3; Potts 2000a: 61). As
Shimal and Tell Abraq are both located close
year
location
event
reference
1604
1750
2 days west of Basra
Wadi Hauran
2 days east of Palmyra
halfway between Palmyra
and the Euphrates
11 miles west of Hit
ostrich feathers found by Pedro Teixeira
ostrich sighted by Bartholomew Plaisted
ostriches sighted by Gen. Sir Eyre Coote
ostrich nest found by Eyles Irwin
Carruthers 1922b: 474
Carruthers 1922b: 474
Carruthers 1922b: 474
Carruthers 1922b: 474
ostriches seen and nest discovered
by Maj. John Taylor
ostrich recorded by Olivier
Carruthers 1922b: 474
Carruthers 1922b: 474
listed among wild animals of the area
ostrich footprints sighted
fresh ostrich egg eaten
ostriches hunted
Guarmani (1866) 1971: 92
Doughty 1921: 132
Carruthers 1922b: 473
Miles 1877: 56
1771
1781
1789
1797
1864
1877
1877
1909
23 miles south of
Deir ez-Zor
Jabal Shammar
nortli edge of Khaibar Harra
Madain Salih
between al-Hasa and
Buraimi
Wadi Hedrij, Jordan
three ostriches sighted
Carruthers 1910: 233
1922b: 472
1914
3 days east of Jawf
ostrich chick brought to Capt. Shakespear Carruthers 1922a: 412
1914
1 day south of Jabal Tubaiq, ostrich track seen by Gertrude Bell
Cheesman 1923a: 210
west of the Nefud
between Ma’an and Azraq, three ostriches seen
Cheesman 1923a: 210
1918
a few miles west of
Wadi Sirhan
c. 1920 100 miles west of Kerbela, fresh ostrich egg eaten by Capt. Leachman Prater 1921: 603
200 miles west of Basra
192112 Jabal Anazah c. halfway
fresh ostrich eggs collected
Carruthers 1922b: 471
between Jerusalem
Cheesman 1923a: 209
and Baghdad
1927
El Jafar, southeast Jordan
two ostriches seen in Bedouin camp
Field 1952: 48
1928
40 miles west of Rutba
ostrich sighted by E. Schroeder
Field 1952: 48
Wells, west Iraq
north Arabian or
Field 1958: 67
six ostriches chased by car
Syrian desert
by Count P. Guerrini Malmignati
1931
near Qaryatein, between
four ostriches chased
Field 1958: 67
Palmyra and Damascus
1931
eastern Rub al-Khali
ostriches shot by Bedouin
Thomas 1931: 214
1932: 147
194045 along Tapline, somewhere ‘last specimen killed and eaten by Arabs’ Greenway 1967: 139
between Dhahran and
northern Saudi Arabia
TABLE1. Sub-recent sightings of ostrich in the Arabian area.
OSTRICH DISTRIBIJTION AND EXPLOITATION IN THE ARABIAN PENINSIJLA
FIGURE
2 . Early 2nd millennium BC ceramic beaker
of ‘Wadi Suq’-type with painfedfrieze of ostrich
(after d e Cardi 1988:figui-e 5.6). Rim diameter 8
cm, base diameter 3.8 em.
to the coast of the northern United Arab Emirates the presence of ostrich as a decorative element in what is patently local pottery strongly
suggests that the range of ostrich in the early
2nd millennium BC was considerably further
to the east than has commonly been assumed.
Ostriches are also depicted on painted pottery
from Raybun, in the Wadi Hadramawt of Yemen,
sometime between the 13th/12th and 8th/7th
centuries BC (Sedov 1996: figures 2.11,4.1), thus
providing a further piece of supporting evidence
for a much more southerly boundary to the
ancient distribution of ostrich than ornithologists have suggested.
Ostrich eggshell on archaeological sites in
the Arabian peninsula and the past
distribution of Struthio
But perhaps the most contentious evidence of
ostrich in Arabia is provided by its shell. A
substantial number of finds of ostrich egg-shell
have been made on archaeological sites (TABLE 2) throughout the peninsula (FIGURE
1). The
question is, how to interpret this evidence. For
example, Mashkour & Van Neer have argued
that, in the absence of ostrich bone, the presence of ostrich eggshell fragments on an archaeological site does not necessarily mean that the
bird’s natural habitat overlapped with that site
(Mashkour & Van Neer 1999: 1 2 4 , n. 11). Similarly, in commenting on ostrich eggshell found
185
FIGLJXE
3 . Early 2nd-millennium RC ceromic sherd
from Tell Abraq showing an ostrich.
near Mintirib and Bilad Bani Bu Ali in the
Wahiba sands of Oman, M. Gallagher expressed
the view that ‘none of these sites is likely to
have been suitable for Ostrich in antiquity, and
the fragments very probably came from eggs
used as domestic ware’ (Gallagher 1988: 418).
Generally, then, there is a belief expressed in
much of the literature that the distribution of
post-Pleistocene ostrich eggshell in Arabia far
surpasses the actual range of Struthio at any
time prior to its extinction.
Such a view, however, is not universal. Speaking of Holocene sites with ostrich egg-shell in
the Rub al-Khali, McClure stoutly rejected the
proposition that an absence of ostrich bone implied the absence of the bird itself (McClure
1984: 182) and indeed this view would seem
to be supported by the ethnohistoric, literary
and representational evidence reviewed above
which points to the presence of the ostrich
throughout the Arabian peninsula in the premodern era.
One case i n point which deserves particular attention is the northern UAE, in particuIar
the site of Tell Abraq where we have both an
ostrich depiction on pottery (discussed above)
and abundant evidence of eggshell. The excavation of a 6 m in diameter collective burial
containing a minimum number of 394 individuals and dating to c. 2100-2000 BC (Potts &Weeks
D.T. POTTS
186
1999; Potts 2ooob) yielded no fewer than 61
fragments of ostrich egg-shell (Potts 2000a;
zooob). Two rim fragments are illustrated here
(FIGURE
4). Weighing on average 1545 g, ostrich
eggs are the largest eggs laid by any known
species of bird. Able to bear weight up to 76 kg
before cracking (Deeming & Ar 1999: 167), ostrich eggshells are eminently suited for use as
non-plastic containers and indeed were used
as such not only in Arabia but in Mesopotamia (Laufer 1926; Moorey 1994: 127-8), the
Levant (Bodenheimer 1960: 59-60; Caubet
1983), the Aegean (Sakellarakis 1990; Poplin
1995: 130-32) and North Africa (Poplin 1995:
133-7; Camps-Fabrer 1995).
In the 7th century AD, according to Al-Waqidi,
ostrich eggs were hidden in the Arabian desert
‘to hold supplies of water’ by the Prophet’s armies (Serjeant 1976: 109, n. 353). In Islamic
tradition ostrich eggs came to be used as ‘receptacles, oil lamps, braising pans, etc’, in
countrylregion
Oman
UAE
Ras al-Khaimah
mosques and eventually exported to the Christian West they were transformed into a symbol
of the Resurrection in churches (Vir6 1993: 829).
In 1857 ostrich egg-shells could be bought in
Medina, as Sir Richard F. Burton found and in
1915 they were routinely available along the
pilgrim road near Ma’an; indeed they became
the quintessential souvenir of the hajj for pilgrims and ‘even in India Arabian ostrich eggs
were often found hanging up in mosques, treasures from the home of Islam’ (Meinertzhagen
1954: 574).
Remarkably, even after ostriches became
extinct in Arabia their eggs continued to be found
in the remote desert areas of Yemen (Serjeant
1976: 68) and Saudi Arabia (McClure 1971: 23).
This curious fact is perhaps explained by the
existence of Kuranic legislation against destroying ostrich eggs during the hajj, which suggests a particular veneration for the bird and
its reproduction (Vir6 1993: 830).
site
Wahiba Sands,
sites 26 & 60
Samad
period
mid-Holocene
As 15 (Asimah)
late 3rd/
early 2nd millennium BC
late 3rd millennium BC
mid-late 2nd millennium BL
14th-16th century AD
1st century AD
Vogt 1994: 46
late 3rd millennium RC;
unpublished
unpublished
P. Magee pers. comm.
Mashkour & van Neer 1999: table 1
Gautier & van Neer 1999: 110
Vo t 1994: 46
Heflycr & Aspinall n.d.
Sh 222 (Shimal)
Shimal settlement
Julfar
Umm al-Qaiwain ed-Dur (Area T)
Tell Abraq
Sharjah (coast)
Sharjah (interior) Muweilah
references
late centuries Bdearly AD
C.
8on RC
Mleiha
3rd century BC4th century AD
A ~ LDhabi
I
(east) Tomh A, Hili North
late 3rd millennium BC
Abu Dhabi Airport
mid-Holocene to
early 1st millennium
Abu Dhabi (west) Bagnunah Formatioil Late Miocene
Qatar
Yaw Sahhab
southwest of
A1 Wagan
southwest of
Tawi a1 Qiserndi
southwest of
Bidn Mutawa
Northern Sahkliat
Matti
south of Liwa Oasis
Sir Bani Yas
LJmm el-Ma’ I
Umm el-Ma’ I1
Ruwayda
Chalib’bis harbour
AD
Edens 1988: 119
Charpentier 1996: 9
Vogt 1994: 48
Vogt 1994: 48
von den Driesch 1994: table 2
Hellyer & Aspinall n.d.
unpublished
(T.6, 29, 30, 57, 60, 68)
Aspinall 1998: 28
Whybrow & Clenierits 19Sl)a: table 23.3
1999b: 467
mid-Holmene
mid-Holocene?
Harris 1998: 24
Aspinall 1998: 28
?
Aspinall 1998: 28
mid-Holocene ant1 ?
Aspinall 1998: 28
mitl-Holocene?
Aspinall 1998: 28
mid-Holocene
6th/7th century A l l
late Islamic-1 8th century m
Parthian-Islamic?
Sasanian-Islamic
mid-Holocene, Qatar D
As inall 1998: 28
Hetyer & Aspinall n.d.
de Cardi 1978: 185
de Cardi 1978: 185
de C a d i 1978: 187
de Car& 1978: 195
OSTRICH DISTRIBU'IION AND EXPLOITATION IN THE ARABIAN PENINSIJLA
187
FIGURE 4. Ostrich egg-shell container rim fragments from Tell Abraq T A 2667 ( 5 . 7 ~ 4 . 6 ~ 0 c
. 2m ] and 2666
(5.47x4.7x0.25 cm). Coloured with red pigment, these rim fragments show clear evidence of having been
cut so as to create a small, round aperture. Judging b y the curvature of their rims they come, in all
probability, from two different ostrich egg-shell containers.
country/region
Bahrain
site
burials, location?
Saar burials
period
references
early 2nd millennium BC?
early 2nd millennium BC
'Ali burials
early 2nd millennium BC
Madinat Hamad
Qalat al-Bahrain
earl 2nd millennium BC
Hel?kistic, Iron Age,
2nd millennium?
Cornwall 1943: 233
Ibrahim 1982: 35, plate 44.7-8
Lombard 1999: 70
Bent & Bent 1900: 27
Jouannin 1905: 153
Mackay et al. 1929: 23
Bibby 1954: figure 4
Reade & Burleigh 1978: 81 & plate 34b
Lombard 1999: 70
Hajlund & Andersen 1994: 413
Saudi Arabia
Wadi Sirhan
Ithra
Ras al-'Aniyah
Jawf-Sakaka basin Raiaiil
Zubayda
Rub al-Khali
various
Mahadir Summan
Bani Ma'aridh
Shuqqat a1 Khalfat
between Yabrin
and Maqainama
Eastern Province Uqair
Hijaz coast
Yemen
Wadi Beihan
Lahj oasis
N abataean?
Nabataean?
4th millennium BC?
Hellenistic
Holocene
?
?
Miocene?
?
Islamic
Winnett & Reed 1970: 60
Winnett & Reed 1970: 182
Zarins 1979: 74
P a r eta]. 1978: 45
McClure 1984: 182
Lowe 1933: 390
Lowe 1933: 390
Lowe 1933: 391
Philby 1933b: 9
Dhahran tomb
Khuraybah
early 2nd millennium BC?
Abbasid
Cheesman 1923a: 332
1923b: 211
Cornwall 1946: 10
Ingraham et al. 1981: 79
Hajar bin Humeid
tomb
Heid bin 'Aqil
(Timna')
Sabir 5
2nd century BC?
Bowen 1958: 9
1st century
Cleveland 1965: 133
BC
12th-loth century BC
B. Vogt pers. comm.
TABLE2. Ostrich eggshell in archaeological contexts in the Arabian peninsula
188
D.T. POTTS
To what extent was ostrich actively hunted in buried in the sand near a clutch of eggs was
discharged via a long fuse at night in the hope
the past?
Although the wide distribution of ostrich in that it might hit a nesting bird (Prater 1921:
Arabia can be demonstrated by the ethnohistoric, 602). Arabian petroglyphs certainly show osrepresentational and eggshell evidence just trich being hunted by men on horseback (Moreviewed, the universal absence of ostrich bones ritz 1923: 42, n. 10; Kabawi 1989: figure 2), and
in faunal inventories from excavations in the although we cannot date the pictures it is sigArabian peninsula nevertheless suggests that nificant that Strabo, drawing on Eratosthenes
ostriches were not killed for their meat in an- (died c. 195 BC), remarked specifically on the
cient Arabia, as was the case in Mesopotamia absence of the horse both in Southern Arabia
(Salonen 1973: 165-6; Finet 1982: 69-70), east and in the Nabataean kingdom of northwestAfrica (Huntingford 1980: 187) and Roman North ern Arabia (Geography 16.4.2; 16.4.26). It is
Africa (Camps-Fabrer 1995: 440). Maria Hofner likely, therefore, that petroglyphs showing ossuggested that a prohibition on ostrich hunt- trich hunters mounted on horseback probably
ing might have existed in pre-Islamic Arabia post-date the last centuries BC, at the earliest.
because the bird symbolized a deity, albeit in Whatever the date of those images, ostrich hunting on horseback was both difficult and expenSouth Arabia and possibly only in the Minaean
area (Hofner 1965: 541). Speaking of mediae- sive. Writing of Arabs i n north Africa who
val South Arabia, Serjeant wrote, ‘I do not re- hunted ostrich for the sake of their feathers,
call any reference to ostrich hunting in Arabic Can0nH.B. Tristram (1822-1906) noted that, while
sources’ (1976: 69). Indeed the difficulty of even ‘the capture of the ostrich is the greatest feat of
approaching an ostrich is well-illustrated by hunting to which the Arab Sportsman aspires’,
Joyce who, in 1918, saw three ostriches sev- it was ‘generally estimated that the capture of an
eral kilometres west of the Wadi Sirhan. He ostrich or two must be at the sacrifice of the lives
of two horses’, so exhausting was the pursuit of
wrote, ‘Thebirds allowed me to approach within
600 to 800 yards, and then made off in a west- a flock of ostrich (Prater 1921: 603).
Finally, apart from ostrich feathers the only
erly direction’ (Cheesman 192:ib: 210). Yet we
know that ostriches were sometimes hunted in other main product sought by ostrich hunters
pre-modern Arabia, albeit not for their meat. seems to have been its fat (Cheesman 1923b:
Rather, ostrich were hunted in Arabia, as in 209) which was highly prized by some of the
inhabitants of northern Arabia, such as the Sleb
north Africa, principally for their feathers.
During the 1870s, for example, ostriches were or Sulubba (Pieper 1923: 24, 34), a north Ara‘hunted for the sake of their feathers’ in the bian nomadic group distinguished from their
region between Buraimi and al-Hasa (Miles 1877: Bedouin neighbours by a variety of cultural
traits. The difficulty of hunting ostrich, how56). Moreover, a list of Bedouin names for horses
recorded in the 1930s (some of which go back ever, is again manifest in an account of Sleb
to the pre-Islamic era) includes the name ‘Nafis’ ostrich hunting by Cheesman, who described
meaning ‘tuft of ostrich feathers [fastened be- how a Sleb hunter named Faraj, ‘clothed only
low the spear blade] of the rider’s lance’ (Raswan in Gazelle skins, stalks the Ostriches on all fours.
1945: 123). Whether foreign demand for ostrich If he kills two or three in a year he considers
feathers, used to decorate both hair and hats he has done well’ (Cheesman 1923b: 209).
(Hooper 1894),had an effect on the incidence Clearly, if a skilled Sleb hunter counted himof ostrich hunting in Arabia is difficult to say, self lucky to bag two or three ostriches in a year,
but certainly Miles remarked on the fact that and a less skilled Western observer could get no
the feathers hunted in eastern Arabia all went closer than 200-300 m, it stands to reason that
to Mecca as there was no market for them lo- the difficulty of stalking ostrich easily accounts
cally, and this suggests that they were prob- for the absence of ostrich in Arabian faunal inably destined for the large market of hajj pilgrims ventories, even in areas inhabited by the bird.
who visited the Holy City each year.
In any event the difficulty of catching and Conclusion
killing an ostrich should not be underestimated. The ancient range of the Arabian ostrich can
Burkhardt noted that the only way the Arabs be extended considerably when ostrich repreof north Arabia could ever kill an ostrich was sentations in rock-art and on pottery, as well
by using an ingenious method in which a gun as finds of ostrich egg-shell, are added to the
OSTRICH DISTRIBUTION AND EXPLOITATION IN THE ARABIAN PENINSULA
189
evidence of 19th- and 20th-century sightings
prior to the bird's extinction. This evidence,
moreover, stands in stark contrast to the image
gleaned from a traditional faunal analytical
perspective which relies almost exclusively on
osteological material to demonstrate the presence of a particular species. The very long tra-
dition of ostrich egg-shell use by ancient and
modern populations in Arabia provides us with
a virtually unique example of the human 'exploitation' of a resource derived from a bird which,
for the most part, successfully eluded its wouldbe captors and killers until the advent of motorized travel and high-powered firearms.
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